Kal's Girl
by Tom Groupie
Summary: Kal meets a girl while living in Metropolis the summer he ran away. She turns into much more than a one night stand.
1. Chapter 1

My first fanfic ever! EEK!!!

Title: **Kal's Girl**

Author: Tom Groupie

Beta: LillaW (The most totally awesomist beta ever! ((hugs)) Love ya, girl)

Rating: R, NC-17 (Rape, sex, language) I'll give you warning for the really bad parts.

Pairing: Kal/Clark-Liz (Maybe others down the line)

Spoilers: End of season 2 threw present eventually.

Feedback: I'd love some, but please be gentle I'm a newbie at this.

Disclaimer: Liz is my own character all the SV one's obliviously aren't.

* * *

**Metropolis 2003**

Kal had been in Metropolis for almost three weeks after leaving his life and his name behind in Smallville. He'd just landed a sweet studio apartment and was already a regular in some of the nightclubs. It was last call at Atlantis, so he peeled off the girl that was practically dry humping his leg and ordered two more shots of Jack.

"I think it's time for you to run along home now," he said in between shots.

"Don't ya wanna join me, big boy?" the nameless girl replied while coyly batting her eyelashes and reaching a hand toward his crotch.

He snatched her hand and began to squeeze, his eyes flashing red as he leaned right in her face "We're done," he bit out. "Now beat it."

"Ouch your hurting me! Asshole!" Kal shoved her backwards and then let go of her hand.

He had already turned back to the bar and forgotten her by the time she whirled away, cursing him under her breath while clutching her hand.

"What was wrong with that one?" The bartender asked while removing the empty shot glasses.

Kal sneered just a little. "She kept doing this weird thing with her tongue. It pissed me off."

"Well pass her on to me next time. I'm not nearly so picky."

"Get your own tail, man. I'll catch ya later."

"Take it easy Kal."

He had to walk back to his apartment, since he'd given his ride away to one of the bouncers. Not that he cared. He liked to roam the streets late at night and see what kind of trouble he could find. He was cutting through an alley when the scar his biological father had branded him with started to glow and burn him from the inside out. It caused such an intense pain that it brought him to his knees almost instantly. He tore open his shirt, exposing the scar that covered his chest. Clenching his fists, he bore the pain silently for as long as possible, but it finally took him over and he let out a strangled cry. And still, he refused to take off the ring.

He fought his father's will until he thought he was about to burn alive. But finally he had to take the ring off, and he flung it away from his body so it no longer had any effect on him.

Just then a group of teens came sprinting around the corner, obviously running from someone. The ring glinted in the moonlight, caught one of the boy's eyes as they ran past it. The kid scooped it up and stuck it in his pocket, not even seeing Clark on his knees with his hands and head resting against the brick wall trying to catch his breath.

There was a girl lagging behind the rest of the group. She saw Billy snatch the ring up, saw Clark slumped over against the wall.

"Hey you? Are you okay? Do you need help?" she asked, slowing to a stop, not sure if she should approach him or not. She went with her gut and stepped toward him, reaching a shaky hand out toward his shoulder. He was clearly in pain but she couldn't tell what was wrong with him.

Just as she touched his shoulder he whipped around to face her, desperately grabbing at her hand. His face was wet from tears, and the scar was completely visible but at least no longer glowing.

He looked around her down the alley then bore his eyes into hers. "Where's the ring?" His voice was horse and he was panting heavily but she understood him.

Just then one of her friends called to her. "Liz! Come on girl we gotta get outta here! The cops are on their way."

"I'll get it for you, I promise. I know who has it," she said, barely above a whisper as she slipped her hand out of his grasp. Then turned and continued running down the alley. The sound of police sirens was growing louder by the second.

Clark couldn't bring himself to care about the approaching cops. He let his body continue to fold in on itself as he began to sob. The memories from the past few weeks were too much for him to bear without the ring, and he knew better than to even try by now.

The police cruiser came to a stop in front of the alley, one of the cops aiming a spotlight down the back street. There was no sign of anyone except a black-clad man curled up in a ball on the ground, apparently sleeping and most likely homeless, so they continued down the street to the next alley.

A few hours later Clark was still in there in the same place, still curled up on the dirty pavement, unable to make himself move from that spot just in case that girl... what was her name? Just in case she kept her word and did happen to return with his ring. He wanted her to be able to find him.

He pulled himself up to sit with his back leaning against the wall. He tried to sleep, but he knew he couldn't, not without the ring. Because every time he closed his eyes he saw the look of disgust on his father's face, and without the ring to help him push it away he felt nothing except the pain of Jonathan's face, the anger and disgust in his voice. So he just stared at a puddle on the ground, willing the girl to bring the ring back to him.

A few moments later he heard footsteps coming down the alley, and he looked up to see her approaching quietly, constantly looking over her shoulder as if she were afraid she'd been followed.

"Hey, your still here. I thought you might be gone by now?"

"Did you bring it?" was his only reply.

"Yeah. Sorry it took so long but I had to wait for Billy to go to sleep before I started going through his pockets." Clark just stared at her, not speaking.

"You're welcome, by the way," she drawled. "I could've gotten into a lot of trouble if I'd got caught stealing from him." She threw the ring at him and then turned on her heel, hurriedly heading back in the direction she'd come.

The effect was immediate and overwhelming. As soon as the ring was close to him it filled him with a warm tingly sensation, starting where he held it clenched in his fist, spreading throughout his body like wildfire. His veins and eyes glowed red for an instant as the drug completely took him over. In a flash he was on his feet standing before her. He moved so fast she ran smack into his chest.

"What the...?"

"Sorry, I just wanted the chance to properly thank you," he said, and his eyes flashed red as he leaned in and captured her lips with his. He brought his hands to her hips and pulled her to him and she pushed against his chest in a feeble attempt to stop him. His kiss was powerful and demanding, and she didn't even realize that she'd stopped pushing against him. She slid her hands around his neck and laced her fingers through his hair. A few minutes later he finally let her come up for air. "Wow… Um, you're welcome."

Kal leered down at her, eyes glinting in the light thrown by the moon. "Baby, I'm just getting warmed up."

With his hands on her hips he lifted her off the ground and her legs wrapped themselves around his waist. He grinned at that, took it to mean she wanted him to keep going, so he backed her up against the brick wall and easily pinned her there with his weight, and then he slid his hands around to her ass and pulled her body firmly against his growing erection.

She gulped and he gave a low rumbling laugh, and leaned in for another kiss when he caught a look of panic in her eyes. But he stopped just before their mouths touched; his eyes boring into hers. "Tell me to stop and I will."

"N-no..." she stammered. "I don't want you to stop. It's just that..." her voice was soft and breathless and her eyes darted up and down the alley.

"It's just what?"

"I'm afraid we might get caught, that's all."

"You mean by him..."

"Yeah" She lowered her eyelids, too embarrassed to look him at him anymore for some reason.

"So he's your boyfriend, I take it."

"No. It's complicated, but he's definitely not my boyfriend."

"Well," Kal drawled, his mouth tilting up defiantly. "Let's _un_complicate things and take this back to my place."

"Okay." Her lips lifted into a shy smile and he leaned in and kissed her again, this time much more gently than the first.

She unwrapped her legs from his waist and he backed away, allowing her to slide down the wall until her toes finally touched the ground. He took her hand in his and silently led her through the alley towards his apartment. It wasn't far, just a few blocks from where they were.

But she was still worried they were being followed and constantly looked over her shoulder as they made their way to his apartment.

The elevator ride was full of sexual tension but neither one of them made a move on it since the elevator was made out of glass and she still had a feeling she was being watched. Kal had been stiff and rigid on the walk to his place, mentally keeping himself in check so he wouldn't lose it and fuck her right there in the alley like he wanted to. And he couldn't quite figure that compulsion out, because usually he had no problem whatsoever controlling his sexual need. It must have been the fact that she'd put herself at risk for him by returning his ring. It was why he forced his body to wait to have her until she felt safe.

But once they were out of the elevator and on the private landing in front of his apartment on the top floor, things changed quickly.

He practically dragged her to his door, then spun her around and had her pinned to it so fast her head reeled. He kissed her roughly and demanded entrance into her mouth with his tongue, while he ground his hips into hers, his erection back in full force. He stopped long enough to dig his keys out of his pants pocket, and then he planted his mouth right back on hers while he backed her through the door and kicked it closed behind him.

He picked her up and once again, like they'd been made to do it, her legs wrapped themselves around his waist again. He walked them through the dark apartment past the bed and straight into the huge bathroom. She was a little surprised to feel the counter top beneath her instead of a bed. She looked up at him questioningly through the dim light as he took a step back from her and started to remove his clothing. "I don't know about you, but the smell of an alley doesn't really do it for me. Especially when we aren't in one anymore. Care to join me in the shower?"

She had to swallow before she could answer. "Absolutely."

He unlaced her calf-high Doc Martens and slipped them off her feet as she pulled off her skin tight black tee with a screen print of Jim Morrison on it. He toed off his boots and unzipped his black jeans, letting them drop into a pile with both their shirts on the floor.

He stepped back in between her fishnet-clad thighs and worked the clasp of her black bra with surprisingly nimble fingers, big as they were, as he opened his mouth over her jaw, kissing his way down her neck to her shoulder. But he stopped abruptly when the skin on her left shoulder suddenly felt raised and rough, like a scar. He pulled back, taking the bra with him and looked at her face.

She was obliviously uncomfortable and wouldn't look him in the eye; she just fingered the waistband of his black silk boxers and waited for him to say something.

"What happened?" He asked as his right hand traced the edge of the large scar that started on her shoulder at the base of her neck and continued down both the front and back side of her for several inches. It continued down her left arm, finally stopping a few inches above her elbow.

"Look," she said. "I bet you don't want to tell me how you got yours, so I'd rather not talk about mine either."

"Point taken," he replied softly, but then he asked before he could stop himself. "Does it hurt?"

"Not anymore. How about yours?"

"Sometimes."

"Like tonight?" she asked.

"I thought we weren't talking about this?" His eyes locked with hers as anger flared through them.

"Then stop talking and kiss me."

His lips crushed hers and he kneaded her now bare breast with his large hands. His index fingers and thumbs caught each nipple, and he pulled and tugged on them unit they were hard.

She gasped and shoved her fingers through his hair, pulled him as close as she could while his hands slid down her slim waist and worked the button and zipper of her mini jean skirt. Her hands slipped down over his muscled back to his boxers and shoved them down toward the floor along with the rest of the pile, finally freeing his massive erection.

He growled low in his throat as she began to lightly caress him. She was driving him crazy and she knew it. He backed up a step, straightening each of her legs one at a time and slowly slid her fish net thigh-highs off. Then he grasped her by the waist and yanked her off the counter, set her on her feet, letting her skirt drop to the floor. She was left in only her black thong. "Damn girl, you look so fuckable right now."

"What about that shower?" she whispered, sucking lightly on his bottom lip.

"Oh I think we can manage to do both at the same time." And with that he hooked his thumbs into the wispy straps of her thong and pulled it down, watching through a red, flaring haze as they fell to the floor as well. He moved one of his hands to the base of her neck and pulled her head back by her dark hair, arching her soft throat and using his other hand to lift her thigh up his side, wrapping it tightly around his waist.

His erection dug into her stomach and she practically crawled up his body, trying to get as close to him as possible. His hands moved to her ass as he carried her across the room to the huge walk-in shower. He easily held her with one hand as he turned the water on, being sure not to make it too hot for his human companion. And then he laid her up against the tiled wall, pushing his cock against her entrance but refusing to move any further. Because he wanted her to beg for it.

She figured out his game and decided two could play that, so she said, "Hand me the shampoo, let me wash your hair."

He made no attempt to move he just breathed against her mouth, his eyes boring into hers.

"Come on, you were the one that wanted to shower first. Remember?" she questioned, and playfully smacked his shoulder.

He blinked as if he finally registered her words. "Right shampoo. Sorry I got a little distracted for a second." He grabbed the bottle of shampoo off the ledge and handed it to her. She squeezed a small amount in her hand as he leaned his head back and let the water sluice through his thick hair. She lathered up his scalp and giggled as he closed his eyes, seemingly being lulled to sleep by her gentle massage.

"That feels good," he whispered as he leaned his head back once again to rinse off the shampoo. "Your turn."

He spun her around and she leaned her head back to wet her hair as he kissed her neck. He turned her back to the wall but left her enough room that she could lean her head forward off the wall so he could have access to her hair. As he lathered up her hair she closed her eyes and had much the same reaction as he did. A few moments later he was done and rinsing her hair for her.

"Wow, that does feel great," she said.

"Told ya." He kissed her lips as he reached for a wash cloth and soap with one hand while still holding her with the other. After they both lathered each other up Kal pulled a cord hanging from the ceiling that activated a shower head above them. It came down like a light rain storm on both of them. Liz giggled. "This is like the coolest shower ever."

"I'm glad your impressed, but I think we've stalled long enough, don't you?"

"Yeah," she breathed out, as excitement and a little delicious fear swirled low in her stomach. He still had her against the tile, his cock was still hard, brushing against her entrance. She tried to move her hips against him, tried to move her leg back up to wrap around the top of his thigh again so he could slide inside her, but he held her so tightly that she couldn't move.

"Tell me want you want." They where nose to nose and his eyes were so close that she thought she could see her own reflection shimmering back at her.

"I want you," she whispered."

"Want me to what?" he whispered back.

"Fuck me."

"What was that? A little louder please?" He teased her.

"Fuck Me!" She practically yelled.

"Okay just checking." He chuckled as he reached down, let the head of his cock slide into her in one long stroke. She clutched his shoulders and he rested his head in the crook of her neck as he worked himself into her. She was tight but extremely wet, so it didn't take too long for him to loosen her up and find his rhythm. He pounded into to her over and over until the water finally turned ice cold and her lips began to turn blue.

"Sorry," he muttered in between kisses as he turn the water off and carried her out of the shower, his cock still buried deep inside her.

He laid her down on his bed, her back flat to the mattress, and settled in between her legs. "I can't believe you're not cold too?" she asked in a shaky whisper as he rubbed her arms and body returning warmth to them from the heat in his body.

"Shh... I'll warm you back up." He stretched his body out on top of hers and began nudging her deep on the inside with his cock, as he brought his right hand down in between their bodies and began to rub her clit with his fingers. It only took seconds and she was screaming. "Oh God! Fuck, right there don't stop! Oh God, oh God!" She panted over and over as her inner muscles squeezed him tightly. Wave after wave of delicious orgasm washed over her and she barely heard his voice for her blood pounding in her ears.

"The name's Kal, baby," he replied as he hooked both of his arms behind her knees and pinned her even deeper into the mattress. He rested his head on the pillow next to her face and began to slam into her so hard she thought the bed was going to break.

"Kal!" she screamed as she violently came again.

"Fuck baby, I'm... Jesus, I'm coming, too," he grunted out between gasps for breath. He finally collapsed on top of her, letting her legs fall to his sides.

"The name's Liz, baby," she said as he panted heavily in her ear.

He raised himself up to his forearms and nuzzled her nose with his while planting light kisses on her cheeks. "Liz. That's a very pretty name, it suits you."

"Thanks." She blushed shyly and let her eyes fall shut at the same time. "Kal's a nice name, too. You don't hear it much," she replied sleepily.

"Nope."

He rolled over onto his back, taking Liz with him so that she was now on top with his half-hard cock still inside her. He reached out to the side and pulled the covers over both of them. "Wake me when you're ready for round two," he said sleepily, and she giggled and snuggled into his chest, absently brought a hand up and began lightly tracing his scar while he did the same to hers.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

My first fanfic ever! EEK!!!

Title: **Kal's Girl**

Author: Tom Groupie

Beta: LillaW (The most totally awesomist beta ever! ((hugs)) Love ya, girl)

Rating: R, NC-17 (Rape, sex, language) I'll give you warning for the really bad parts.

Pairing: Kal/Clark-Liz (Maybe others down the line)

Spoilers: End of season 2 through present eventually.

Feedback: I'd love some, but please be gentle I'm a newbie at this.

Disclaimer: Liz is my own character all the SV ones obliviously aren't.

Chapter 2

About an hour later they were both still sound asleep when Liz's face started to feel very warm. She woke up just in time to see a faint glow on Kal's chest suddenly become much brighter and very hot.

She jerked up into a sitting position, bringing a hand to the side of her face, just as Kal started to scream. His eyes were still shut tight and she wasn't sure if he was even awake or not.

"Kal, wake up! I don't know what to do, please wake up!" Liz shouted over his screams.

"Take it off! Take it off!" He shouted over and over. He was only wearing one thing, and so she grabbed his left hand as it flailed about and yanked the ring from his finger, throwing it into the far corner of his room. The glowing immediately stopped along with his screams, but he still didn't open his eyes.

"Kal? Are you okay?" she whispered as she took both his hands in hers and rubbed her thumbs lightly over his knuckles, not knowing what else to do to soothe him.

His eyes flew open and he sat straight up in bed, grabbing her by the shoulders and holding her away as he looked her over. Then he saw it; a red line on her cheek where his scar had burned her face. "I burned you!" he gasped, reaching up to trace the angry red welt on her cheek but pulled his hand away before he could touch her, too afraid he'd hurt her more. "I'm so sorry. I should have known better, I should have…" He let out a shaky breath and grasped her chin gently, turning her face to the side for a better look. "I'm so sorry." He couldn't seem to say anything else as he finally dared to stroke his thumb carefully over her cheek.

"I'm fine, really, Kal." She took his hand and lightly kissed his palm. "Do you hear me? I'm fine." She was trying to get him to look at her but he just kept staring at the mark. Finally she dropped his hands and grabbed his face between both her hands and forced him to make eye contact with her. "Kal. I'm fine. I barely even felt it. I'm sure it'll fade soon."

Tears suddenly welled up in his eyes and he said, "But this always happens."

"What does?"

"I always wind up hurting anyone I get close to." The tears spilled over and started to freely run down his face.

At the sight of his tears Liz's eyes welled up. She'd never seen such a big strong guy so sad or scared in all her life and it broke her heart. "You didn't hurt me. I'm fine." She said the words over and over, planting soft kisses on his forehead, then she moved down to his eyelids and his cheeks. And after she'd kissed every tear-stained inch of his face, she gently touched her lips to his mouth.

He kissed her back as hard as he dared while he pulled her body flush against his. He just wanted the pain to stop and he didn't know what happened to the ring. She rotated her hips and he realized his cock was still inside her. The thought made him harden instantly, he slid his hands down her back and he dug his fingers into the flesh of her ass. She pulled back, searching his eyes to see if he was really okay. "You ready for round two, baby?" she asked as she rolled her hips one more time.

"Definitely," he murmured.

He moved to flip her onto her back but she stopped him. "Why don't you just lie back and let me take care of you for a while," she said as she pushed him down with a wicked grin on her face.

"Sounds good to me," he replied, and he slid his hands further down her ass to grip the backs of her thighs. Liz started to move up and down on him, rising up until just the tip of his cock was inside her, then slamming back down, grinding until he was as deep as he could go. His eyes drifted shut as his slid a hand up her waist and cupped one of her breasts gently, and then he opened his eyes again, watching her move, his cock flexing at the sight of her breasts bouncing up and down with her thrusts.

She pulled up slowly, until the tip of his cock barely teased her opening, and then she stopped moving, letting him feel just the soft, grazing slide of her wet flesh on his. His eyes popped open and he saw her grinning down at him. "No teasing aloud," he growled," and both hands came back to her waist, gripped her tight and pulled her down hard, lifting his hips off the bed to meet hers.

She steadied herself by gripping his chest as he drove into her harder and faster. One of his hands slid from her thigh inward and he placed his thumb on her clit, pressing in tight, rhythmic circles, moaning when he felt her grow wetter with every push of him deep inside her. And then she was gasping, clenching him hard and tight as he continued to work her clit and slam into her from underneath.

"Oh shit...fuck Kal!" Her hands slid up her own body and she pinched her nipples hard. "Oh God... fuck I'm coming...oh God...Kal!"

The sight of her touching herself was enough to push Clark over the edge. He didn't care if she was calling him by the wrong name; he didn't want to be Clark Kent anymore anyway, with or without the ring.

He pulled her down to him and quickly flipped her under him, spreading her legs wider with his thighs as he began driving down hard, both hands pushing her thighs open. "Oh God... I'm...fuck Liz you feel so good...Fuck!!" He came deep inside her with her still holding him tightly on the inside.

He gently kissed the red mark on her cheek, then the tip of her nose, and whispered, "I'm so sorry I hurt you."

They were so close that their eyelashes touched when they blinked. "I told you I'm fine. It wasn't your fault."

He rolled to one side taking her leg with him so he could stay inside her. "I'm glad you stayed tonight," he said in a whisper as he brought her fingertips to his lips and began kissing them one by one.

"Do most girls run out when that sort of thing happens?" she asked as she ran her fingers through his hair with her free hand.

"Most girls, haha very funny. No this was a first tonight."

"Do you mean the sex or the burning flesh?" she giggled. "Cause baby, if you were a virgin...then damn you're a natural."

"Uh... I meant the burning flesh." But actually he meant both. And he wasn't about to tell her that, so he tried to distract her. "You mean _you_ weren't a virgin? Because you looked so sweet and innocent in those fishnets and mini skirt."

"Hey shut up, you jerk," she joked. "I didn't hear any complaints from you."

"And you won't," he promised. They laid nose to nose on their sides with his cock still buried deep inside her as they drifted back to sleep.

Clark 's sleep was fitful. He could never sleep well without the ring on to keep away thoughts of Smallville. Liz woke a second time to find him mumbling in his sleep, incoherent words that she couldn't make out.

She shook his shoulder lightly and whispered, "Kal, wake up." He didn't hear, because he kept thrashing and mumbling. "Kal, wake up. You're having a bad dream."

Still no response.

"No! I won't leave them, you can't make me go!" He was shouting now but most definitely still asleep. "I'm sorry," he cried out. "I'm so sorry, Dad."

"Kal wake up!" She shook him harder this time. "Kal?"

His eyes opened and he saw Liz looking at him with a very concerned expression on her face. He couldn't say anything. He wanted to try, but he just stared at her, unblinking.

"Kal? Baby what ever it was, it was just a dream, okay?" She searched his eyes for a sign that he could understand her but he just stared. "Come on it's okay. You don't have to talk about it unless you want to." He let her pull him in close to her and he nuzzled his face in her chest and tried to forget the awful dream as she stroked her hand through his hair, trying to calm him down.

He gripped her tight and held back a sob for as long as he could before he broke down completely. Crying into her neck and chest as she tried to soothe him with her soft touch. They both finally fell back to sleep wrapped in each other's arms, while Liz rubbed his back.

Sunlight streaming in through the window woke her the next time. Clark was sleeping with his face buried in her chest. She carefully lifted his heavy arms off her and slipped her shoulder from beneath his neck. He muttered something in his sleep, but then settled into the pillow without waking. Liz watched him sleep for a few minutes, running her fingers through his dark hair, kissing his forehead. And then she slipped out of his bed as quietly as possible.

She could tell it was still early morning and knew she needed to be getting back before someone noticed she was gone. So she tiptoed back to the bathroom and pulled on her clothes from the previous night.

Clark was still asleep when she came back out into the bedroom fully dressed. Walking towards his kitchen, she spotted a scrap piece of paper and a pen. So she wrote him a short note.

_"Kal, I had a great time last night, but it's time for me to get back to reality. We should do this again sometime." Yours, Liz_

As she walked back toward the bed she noticed the ring on the floor glinting in the morning light. She picked it up and set it on top of her note, right next to him on the bed.

His hand automatically reached for the ring in his sleep. And she stared in wonder as his fist clenched tightly around it and the veins on his hand and arm bulged out and turned bright red.

"What the fuck?" she whispered, and she watched him pull his arm back to his body and hug it close to his chest. A sigh escaped his lips and he appeared to be smiling but he never opened his eyes. Liz tiptoed to the front door and let herself out as quietly as she could.

The walk back to the abandoned building she and her friends called home was quiet and uneventful, but when she got to her room Billy was sitting on her mattress waiting for her. "What are you doing in here?" she demanded quietly.

"Waiting for you. Isn't it obvious?"

"Well I'm beat, so what do you want?"

"I'll bet you are."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I know you were up fucking that guy from the alley all night, that's what."

"Look. I don't know what you thought you saw but I just helped a drunk guy back to his apartment. And yeah, I stayed there. But it was because I thought he was gonna drown in his own vomit. So if we're done here please leave so I can get some sleep."

"So it was just my imagination when I saw you two practically fucking in the alley?"

"Must have been, but even if we were it still wouldn't be any of your business."

"That's where your wrong and you know it," he snarled, standing up and looming over her. He wasn't nearly as tall as Kal, but when you're five-foot-nothing pretty much anyone can loom over you.

"Look," she yelled. "Just because my brother left you in charge of this fucked up little group we have here while he's locked up doesn't mean I belong to you. Why don't you go fuck Jenny, she's dying to be your girlfriend." She shouted the last words in his face, really angry now.

"I don't want Jenny, I want you, and I've been patiently waiting for the past six months for you to come around. But if you're gonna start going home with random guys you find in alleys then I'm just gonna take what I want, and keep you on a short leash the rest of the time." He was right in her face, backing her into the wall as he invaded her personal space.

"Just go ahead and try it," she warned. "And when Bobby gets outta jail he'll fucking kill you." Liz spat back at him, trying to act brave but in reality Billy scared the shit out of her.

"Baby, you don't even know if your sorry brother is ever gonna get out, so I wouldn't count on him coming to your rescue anytime soon." He brought his index finger to the burn mark on her cheek and touched it lightly. "What happened, did that guy hurt you?"

"No. It's nothing. It's from that old lady's purse strap we mugged last night. It hit me in the face when you yanked it off her arm."

"Oh, sorry." But he didn't sound sorry. His finger brushed over her lip then down her cheek and neck to trace the collar of her shirt.

"Like I said, it's nothing so don't sweat it." She just wanted him to back off and get away from her, because if he didn't she wasn't sure what she was going to do next.

"So what's that guy got that I don't have?" Billy asked her. "I mean, come on. I take pretty good care of you right?"

"Yeah Billy, you take good care of all of us." He was still in her face with his hand on her shoulder now. She was feeling trapped and was fighting the urge to push him away. She knew it would only make things worse if he got pissed off.

"I'm not talking about the others, I'm talking about you. I've always treated you special and you know it."

"Yeah I know." Her voice was barely above a whisper now, but she thought he needed to hear the truth. "I'm sorry. I just don't feel the same way that you do I guess."

"Well that's just fucking great!" he shouted, and his grip tightened on her shoulder and he punched a hole in the wall with his other hand, his fist slamming through the plaster right next to her head. "Don't you think I should get something after all I've done for you?"

"Billy, stop. You're scaring me." Her voice was trembling and a tear slipped down her cheek.

"Oh come on, tough girl. You can take it, can't you?"

"I mean it. You're scaring me. Please leave… I want you to go." Her eyelids lowered and her bottom lip was trembling.

He took advantage of her lowered guard and crushed his lips to hers, forcing his tongue into her mouth. Her hands came to his chest to push him away as she instinctively kneed him in the groin.

"Fuck!" he screamed. "You little bitch! You'll pay for that," he shouted as he doubled over in pain.

She tried to get away from him while he was somewhat out of it but he still had a death grip on her shoulder, so she couldn't get far.

"Where do you think you're going?" He shoved her back against the wall and straightened up again.

"I'm… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that, I just reacted," she pleaded with him.

"Oh. Well in that case..." SMACK! He backhanded her hard across her cheekbone and eye and said, "Sorry. That's just how I react to getting kneed in the balls."

She was screaming and crying, and pleading with him, "STOP! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

He grabbed her wrist and flung her to the mattress that lay on the floor. "Billy no, please don't do this!" she sobbed.

"That's it, let me here you beg," he said. "I'll bet you begged that guy last night, didn't you. You little whore." He crawled up her body and forced her legs apart with his knees.

"No please, NO!" His hands shoved her skirt up as his dirty fingers groped at her inner thighs and center, pulling at the thin material that covered her.

Just then they heard banging on her door. He put a hand over her mouth and held her wrists together with the other. "WHAT?" He yelled.

"Billy, man what the hell's going on in there? You guys woke up the whole place."

Billy stood up, letting go of Liz, but he kicked her in the stomach as he made his way to the door. "Bitch," he muttered under his breath as he left her.

He yanked open the door but blocked Tony's view of her with his body. "What, man? What do you want?"

"What's going on in there?" Tony asked him.

"Nothing, just a little disagreement."

"You better stop fucking around, man. Her brother will find a way to gut your ass from in jail if you're not careful."

"Yeah, whatever, man. She's not worth it anyway." And he turned around and shouted at her, "You hear me? You're not worth it, you little whore!"

Liz lay curled in a fetal position on her bed in the floor, just trying to breathe without screaming.

Billy shoved past Tony and said, "I need some air. Get outta my way." And he took off out of the building and into the alley.

"Hey, you okay?" Tony called to her from the doorway.

Liz still lay unmoving. "Yeah. Just leave me alone please," she replied in a weak voice.

"Sure, no problem." He shut her door and headed back to his own room.

Liz just laid there holding her stomach with one hand and her cheek with the other for several minutes, crying silently. When she could breathe without thinking she was coming apart, she finally sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I need to get out of here for good," she whispered to herself as she struggled to her feet and began to collect the few articles of clothing she owned into her back pack. She spotted a bottle of vodka that was still pretty full so she shoved that into her bag too, and then crawled out her window to the fire escape.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Kal finally woke up around ten in the morning. He stretched his arms out to either side and realized he was alone in his bed.

Sitting up, he slipped the ring onto his finger and reached for the note Liz had left for him. After reading it silently he read the last two words aloud again. _Yours, Liz._

You're damn right your mine," he growled out loud. "Now where the hell did you run off to." Apparently, when a Kryptonian mated it meant more then just casual sex. Because he sure was feeling awfully possessive over a girl whose last name he didn't even know.

He super sped through his shower and got dressed, then headed back to the alley where he'd met her. He didn't see her anywhere, so he walked in the direction she had come from the night before, when she'd brought his ring back to him. The alley was mostly empty with the exception of a few bums sleeping in doorways. He used his x-ray to peer into the buildings on either side of him as he made his way further down the alley, looking for any sign of her.

Finally he rounded a corner and came to a building with most of its windows busted out. It was clearly abandoned, but when he scanned the walls he saw a group of kids gathered together in a makeshift living room. He looked deeper inside and saw more kids spread out through the entire building, apparently still in their rooms.

He was about to go inside to ask if anyone had heard of Liz when a guy came out of the main entrance and saw Kal immediately. "Hey, you don't belong here. Beat it, man."

"I go anywhere I damn well please," Kal shot back. "I'm looking for a girl named Liz; short, dark hair. You seen her?"

"Oh you must be the guy she took off with last night." Kal just stared at him with a blank expression. "You better get the hell outta here before Billy comes back or he's liable to stab your ass for stealing his girl."

"Where is she?" Kal was right in his face, backing him through the doorway with anger flashing in his eyes.

"She...took off man...they got into it pretty good when she came back... I got him to leave her alone but..."

"But what?" Kal shouted.

"Not before he gave her a black eye."

"Where did he go?" He slammed the kid against the doorjamb, then jerked him off his feet by his collar.

"I don't know man! He took off, too. And look… you look like you can take care of yourself and all, but I still wouldn't mess with Billy if I were you."

"Well it's a good thing you're not me then, isn't it? You tell that fuck I'm looking for him. Got it?"

The kid gulped a couple of times before he stammered out, "Y-yeah."

Kal dropped him back down to his feet. "And if you see Liz, tell her she knows where she can find me."

"Sure man. But I don't think she'll be back. I checked her room earlier and all her stuff was gone."

"You don't have any idea where she might be headed?"

"No, but she could be anywhere by now." Kal finally unwound his hands from the boy's shirt and walked off down the alley without another word.

8888888888

Instead of going down the fire escape, Liz had climbed up to the roof. There were several planks of wood connecting the surrounding buildings by rooftops so she figured she would go as far as she could before returning to street level. Knowing that Billy was scared of heights made her feel like she had a good chance of sneaking away unnoticed. She, on the other hand, had always loved heights and spent as much time as she could on the roof of their building just staring up at the sky and wishing she could fly.

With her destination in mind, she headed out across the wooden plank that was attached to the building to the east. She knew she could get as far as the docks before she would have to go back down to ground level, which was as far as she needed anyway because she was headed for the bridge there.

On her walk across the rooftops her mind drifted back to her amazing night with Kal. She had thought about going back to his place, but just because they'd spent one night together didn't mean he'd be okay with her showing up at his door, bag in hand and waiting to be invited in. As much as she missed him already, she just wouldn't put her problems on him. He seemed to have enough of his own to deal with, without adding her worries on top of them. If they ran into each other again and he offered that would be one thing. But she wasn't about to go asking a near stranger for help when she could take care of herself.

She had made it to the last building and was climbing down the fire escape when her stomach started to grumble loudly. "Well you're just gonna have to wait," she said out loud to her stomach as she let go of the last rung of the ladder and dropped to the ground. There was a teen shelter about a block from here but it only took kids in from 6pm until 8am, and then everyone had to leave for the day while volunteers cleaned and prepared food for the next batch of kids. She would wait for it to open in one of her favorite places in the whole city.

There was a huge steel bridge that spanned the river, its belly was a mass of steel re-bar that was easy to climb through if you weren't afraid of heights. She climbed out to the center of the bridge and settled into the metal using her backpack as a pillow, and then she pulled out her bottle of vodka and began drinking as she watched boats pass on the water beneath her. In less than an hour she drank herself to sleep, lulled by the traffic overhead.

8888888888

Kal had searched everywhere he could think of, but he hadn't found her. Even with his super speed and x-ray vision he still couldn't get a trace of her that would lead him to wherever she'd gone. "She must have found one damn good hiding spot," he muttered to himself as he entered the diner at the corner of the street he lived on. It was late afternoon now and he was starving.

"Hey, Kal. What would you like, hon?" the plump waitress behind the counter asked as she poured him a cup of black coffee.

"Hey, Rosie. I'll have a roast beef sandwich with fries."

"Coming right up, cutie." She wrote his order on a ticket and stuck it on the wheel for the cook, then turned back to Kal. "You doing alright today, hon? You seem a little down."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just lost something, that's all."

"Well I'm sure you'll find it, whatever it is."

"Thanks."

Rosie moved off to take another order, and left Kal alone while he waited for his food. He ate in silence as he thought about where he should check next, then left a fifty on the counter and headed for the door.

"Good luck in your search Kal," Rosie called out. "Have you checked down by the docks yet? Everything lost seems to end up there."

"Thanks Rosie, but I've already looked there."

"Well, check again. You might have missed something the first time."

He shrugged his shoulders as he backed out the door. "Okay, it couldn't hurt," he muttered.

8888888888

When Liz awoke she could tell it was late in the afternoon, but she had no way of telling what time it was because she didn't own a watch. Her face was still throbbing from where Billy had hit her, so she took a few more swigs from her bottle and settled back against her backpack once again. She didn't want to have to wait around in front of the shelter for it to open so she decided to wait awhile longer before climbing down from the bridge. The last thing she wanted was for Billy to spot her before she had a chance to get inside the building. She knew he'd be looking for her by now and hoped he hadn't gone by Kal's place. Billy was a dangerous guy and she didn't want anything bad to happen to Kal.

She finished her bottle as she watched the sun set lower in the sky. It had to be 6 o'clock by now, so she pulled her backpack back on and began climbing down toward the base of the bridge on wobbly legs.

"Way to go Liz, maybe you should drink some more then go climb around on bridges," she said out loud to herself as she struggled to find footing through her blurred vision.

She was stuck, suddenly. Everything around her was spinning and she couldn't go forward or backwards for fear she would fall. "Dammit! Now what the fuck are you gonna do?" she yelled at herself. "Calm down just breathe. You've done this a thousand times. You could do this blindfolded." She tried giving herself a pep talk but that didn't stop the spinning either. "Well, looks like I'll be up here a little while longer." She hooked her arms through the bars and let her body relax into the metal, prepared to wait out her intoxication before she tried to go anywhere.

888888888

Kal approached the shelter near the docks and saw a group of teens waiting outside to be let in. He scanned the group but he didn't see Liz among those waiting. He walked up to a few kids standing off to the side. "Hey. I'm looking for a girl, her name is Liz. She's short with dark hair. Have any of you seen her?"

"If she's the Liz I'm thinking of you won't find her at a shelter. Her crew's got their own spread. She hangs out with a guy named Billy right?"

Kal nodded. "She did, but she took off this morning by herself. I think she may wind up at a shelter since she's alone."

"Well I'll keep an eye out for ya, man."

"Thanks. I'll make it worth your while if you find her."

Kal continued on his search, making random patterns throughout the city and stopping in at different shelters as he went. So far none of the guys he had talked to had seen her. He was beginning to think he wouldn't ever find her. It was well after dark now and most of the shelters where already full for the night. The funny thing was he wasn't tired of looking for her. He was worried that she wouldn't have a safe place to stay tonight. "Dude, get a grip," he told himself. "She's just a chick. She left you, remember? Why are you even looking for her? Just go to the club and get a new one," he said aloud to his reflection in the window of a closed store front he'd stopped in front of.

_"You have to keep looking. She belongs to us now. We have to take care of her._"

It was Clark , begging Kal to keep looking. "I know, you're right," Kal said to him. "One more hour," he said. "But then I'm taking a break."

_"Fine. I could look, you know. I'd probably have better luck anyway. You just scare anyone you talk to," _Clark told him.

"Oh like I give a shit!" Kal yelled at the glass. "And you're crazy if you think I'm ever letting you out without a fight."

_"I'm crazy? You're the one talking to your reflection, jackass." _

"God, I hate you."

_"The feeling's mutual,"_ Clark replied solemnly.

888888888

The sound of an air horn from an eighteen-wheeler above her head woke Liz. She had fallen back to sleep waiting for her buzz to wear off.

It was dark out now, so getting down would be harder then in the daylight but at least she could see straight. Slowly but surely she made her way down to the ground below. She was tempted to just stay the night since she was sure the shelter would be full by now, but she was hungry so her stomach made up her mind for her.

Sticking to the shadows, she made her way to the shelter. The main door was still open behind the barred door so she held out hope that she could get in. As she approached the steps a couple of guys ran past her and up to the door in front of her.

"Hey! Watch where you're going, assholes. I'm walkin' here."

"Yeah. Sorry, whatever."

_Shut your mouth Liz. Nobody's got your back anymore,_ she thought to herself as she lowered her head so her hair would fall forward and cover the bruise on her face as she made her way up the steps.

"Sorry sweetie, they were the last two in for the night."

"But they cut in front of me!" Liz argued with the middle- aged women behind the barred door.

"You know the rules; first come first serve."

"Well could I at least get some food? I don't remember the last time I ate." She unconsciously tucked her hair behind her ear as she put on her most pitiful face for the volunteer, exposing her large bruise for her to see.

"Oh my goodness, what happened to you dear?"

"Oh, it's nothing, it'll heal. But I'm really hungry and would love to get cleaned up, then I'll leave, I promise."

"You know I'm not supposed to."

"Can't you make an exception just this once? I promise I won't tell anyone."

The woman looked at once put out and sympathetic, but she finally agreed. "I'll bring you some food and some wet paper towels to clean your face up with, but that's all I can do. Got it?"

"Thanks," Liz whispered, and then she leaned against the door and waited while she watched the two guys who had butted in front of her settle in on two cots. _Looks like I'm sleeping on the roof tonight. _

"Hey, you! You're Liz, right?" Her head popped up at the sound of her name and she was ready to take off but she recognized the guy from around… Johnny, she thought his name was, so she stayed put.

"Who wants to know?"

"Sorry If I scared you, but I've been looking for you all night."

"Me? Why?"

"This guy came by earlier looking for you."

"It wasn't Billy was it?"

"No, some really tall guy with dark hair. He looked too rich to be looking for you but whatever... Damn, girl! Did Billy do that to your eye?"

"Yeah, I haven't actually gotten to look at it yet. Is it really that bad?"

"Totally. I'm surprised you can even see out of it."

"I can't believe it. Kal's actually looking for me!" she murmured, more to herself than the guy on the other side of the door. "Oh God, I can't let him see me like this. I'll just have to wait a couple of days, then go to his place."

"He doesn't seem like the type of guy you should keep waiting for a couple of days," Johnny said. "He looks like he's probably got a temper on him to match Billy's. You sure know how to pick 'em."

The volunteer interrupted them, stepping in front of Johnny. "Okay dear. Here's a sandwich and some paper towels. Now it's time for you to move on for the night. Good luck, and come back earlier tomorrow so you can actually get in."

"Thanks, I will," Liz replied.

She put the sandwich in her backpack and held the wet paper towel to her eye as she moved down the steps and back toward the shadows of the alley. When she pulled the paper towel away from her eye she could see blood on it in the dim light. _Great. I've probably got dried blood all over my face. _She scrubbed her face as best she could with no mirror as she walked down the alley toward the ladder suspended in the air a few feet above her head.

She was moving a trash can under the ladder to use as a step when she heard chuckling coming from behind her. She instantly froze. She'd know that laugh anywhere.

It was Billy.

"So predictable. I knew you'd come out to this damn bridge. You always come here when you're upset."

"Well, since you're the one that usually upsets me, I guess you should know," she smarted back.

He leered at her with that same old mean gleam in his eyes.

"Look Billy, just leave me alone, okay?" and she hurriedly climbed up on top of the trash can lid and reached for the ladder rung above her head.

"That's not gonna happen and you know it. I'm not done with you yet."

Just the tone of his voice scared her into scrabbling faster for the ladder, but she couldn't quite grab it. She was still a little drunk so she was having a hard time balancing. He was getting closer so she jumped, trying desperately to reach the ladder. She managed to catch the bottom rung, but Billy was right in front of her now. Frantically she tried to pull herself up but he grabbed her legs and yanked her down to the ground. She landed with a thud on her back.

"You're mine now, bitch!" He towered over her and pulled out his pocket knife.

"No! she screamed. "Please, no!" She was trying to get to her feet but her back really hurt from the fall and her head was still spinning. Putting her hands on the ground by her sides she tried to sit up and scoot backward on her butt at the same time, putting as much distance between them as possible until she could get to her feet and make a run for it.

She wasn't looking behind her as she half crawled, half dragged herself on her hands and feet, and her right hand came down on a broken bottle and cut deeply into her palm. But she didn't let the pain show on her face. Instead she curled her fingers around the bottle and prepared to use it as a weapon.

"There's nobody out here to interrupt us this time," Billy said. "We're all alone."

Liz kept crawling, watching him as he kept coming, closer and closer and she knew he wasn't going to just walk away from her this time.

"You're the one who had to make things difficult," he almost yelled. "You knew how I felt about you and you just kept ignoring me anyway." He let out a low laugh. "Well, I'm done being ignored. If I can't have you then nobody else can, either."

Liz froze in the middle of the wet, filthy pavement, her hand bleeding and pounding and her heart stopped when he leaned down into her face and said, "But then again maybe I'll have you, and then I'll kill you." And he knelt down over her body, trapping her legs beneath him.

Her left hand came to his chest to try and push him away. She had scooted backwards the last few inches until she hit a brick wall, but she was still in too much pain to try and free her legs. He brought his knife up to her throat and she gasped as the cold metal touched her skin. His other hand came up to the collar of her shirt and he grabbed it, twisting it around his fist as he pulled her upper body off the wall and closer to him. He used his knife and cut her shirt in half from collar to waist in one swift motion, and licking his lips, he watched her chest rise and fall rapidly while she tried to catch her breath.

She didn't beg for her life as he expected; she just watched him intently, waiting for the right moment to strike. Her heavy breathing was the only thing giving away the fact that she was scared to death.

"Now where did we leave off?" Billy drawled in a rough whisper. "Right about here, I think." With one hand pressed to her throat he slit her skirt with his knife, and then did the same thing to her panties. "Now we're getting somewhere, baby."

And then it happened: He leaned in, closing his eyes as his lips made contact with the swell of her breast, his tongue darting out to taste her, his teeth biting her. She moaned in sick pain when she felt the tender skin of her nipple splitting, burning like fire, and she brought her right hand up, still clutching the broken piece of glass, and stabbed him as hard as she could in the side of his neck.

"A...A...HH!!" Billy tried to cry out in pain but the blood filling his throat was making it hard for him. The hand he had on her throat quickly fell away and he dropped the knife to the ground and slapped both hands over the gash in his neck, trying to stop the steady blood flow. And all Liz could think was that she'd missed his main artery because he didn't die right away. He just loomed over her, his blood pouring all over her bare chest, stomach, and thighs.

She shoved at his chest with both hands, sobbing in fear and hatred and revulsion, trying to push him off of her, but he was a lot bigger, so much heavier than she would have imagined, and he barely budged. His full weight bore down on her trembling arms for long minutes, their gasping breaths the only sounds Liz could hear as he grew heavier with every second, until she didn't think she could hold him up anymore.

They were nose to nose and he was looking her dead in the eye and he grinned a horrible, evil grin, his teeth and lips covered in blood, when he gave a gurgling laugh and thrust his pocket knife into her stomach, grunting with the effort, and then he slumped over, dead on top of her.

Liz let out a deep gasp and clutched at her stomach with both hands, watching the world go solid black. "Damn..."

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Kal had already checked back at the rest of the shelters and he'd decided that the one by the docks was his last before he was calling it quits for the night. He tapped on the back corner window and waited for the kid he had talked to earlier to open the glass.

A few moments later the window slid open about halfway. "Hey man! I've got some good news for you."

"Really? Is she in there?" Kal had x-rayed the building and hadn't seen her, but maybe he'd missed something.

"No, man," the kid said. "She was just here, though. She just missed the cut off to get in, but I talked to her through the door and told her you were looking for her."

"Where did she go?" Kal barked.

"She said something about you not seeing her like this and that she would have to wait a few days before going to your place. I told her that wasn't a good idea, so maybe she's heading to your place right now."

"Did you see which way she went?" Kal growled. He was pissed that he'd missed her.

"Yeah man, she went down that alley." He pointed to his left.

"Thanks." Kal passed a wad of money through the window and into the kid's waiting hand.

"Anytime, anytime. I'll be around if you need help with anything else."

Kal sped to the ally and stopped at the entrance, peering down as far as he could see and listened, but the alley was silent. _Well she's probably hiding._ He switched to x-ray vision and looked again. The alley was empty except for one corner near the end.

There were two skeletons there, one on top of the other, neither one moving…

"SHIT!" Kal sped to the bodies, hoping neither of them was Liz. He came to a sliding halt when he reached them, and his voice came out in a shaky whisper. "Liz?"

He took a step closer, reaching his hand out to touch the shoulder of the guy that was slouched over, his head bent down and leaning on the shoulder of the girl beneath him, blocking Kal's view of the girl's face.

"Please don't be Liz, please don't be Liz," he repeated over and over in his mind as he lifted the guy into an upright position.

All the color drained from his face and he fell to his knees when he saw Liz trapped beneath this guy who most likely used to be Billy. His gentle touch quickly turned rough as he shoved Billy's lifeless body off of her, and that was when he saw the slash mark on his neck and his stomach twisted into knots. Why couldn't he have been just a few minutes sooner? Because he would have made damn sure Billy suffered for _ever_ touching her.

His focus quickly returned to Liz as his eyes scanned her blood-covered body. He saw the handle of a knife sticking out of her stomach and he choked back a sob as he gently cupped her cheek with his left hand, and with his right felt her wrist for any sign of a pulse.

"Liz?" He said her name again, louder, commanding her to respond in any way. And then he felt it; her pulse. It was faint, but still there. He x-rayed her body and saw her heart pumping ever so slowly. "Let's get you to a hospital," he tearfully whispered, and he leaned forward and kissed her lips. When he pulled back he saw her eyelids flutter open.

"Hi." She tried to speak but no sound came out.

"Shh, don't try to talk. Save your strength." He gently scooped her up and stood cradling her body protectively in his arms.

Liz's eyes locked with his; she was desperately trying to tell him something. "No...osp...ospital" She clutched his shirt, willing him to understand her.

"No what?" he asked as he leaned down with his ear close to her lips so he could hear her better..

"ospital."

"Hospital? No hospital! What? Are you crazy? Liz, you have to have a doctor."

"Ca..n't..go..ba..k."

"Liz I don't understand, can't go back where? We don't have time for this! You're gonna die!"

But Liz pleaded with her eyes for him to understand her, begging him to see that she'd rather die than get sent back into juvenile detention or worse, wind up in jail for killing Billy.

"Fine, alright," Kal said. "No hospitals. I know a doctor that makes house calls. But if he can't come, I'm taking you whether you like it or not."

He pulled out his cell phone and quickly dialed Toby. Lex had given him the number after he brought Kyle Tippet to the mansion last year with a gunshot wound to his shoulder. He'd told him to call him himself next time; cut out the middleman.

"Toby here. This better be good. Buffy's on," he growled.

"Toby. This is Lex's friend, um… Clark Kent . We met at the mansion last year. I need your help. How fast can you get to the west side of town?"

"Five, ten minuets tops."

"Make it five. My girl's got a stab wound. I live in the Windsor building, top floor, number 5A on West Boulevard . I'll be waiting for you."

"I'm on my way, kid. But you better have cash."

"How ever much you want."

Kal shut his phone and looked down at Liz. Her eyes had fallen closed but he could still feel her faint heartbeat against his chest. He pulled her closer and turned with her until she was facing away from Billy. Looking back over his shoulder he blasted Billy's lifeless body with his heat vision, and he didn't stop until there was nothing left but a pile of ashes.

Then he took off as fast as he thought she could handle toward his apartment, hoping the entire time that this wasn't a big mistake. Of course he arrived home several minutes before Toby got there. He left his front door open and placed Liz gently in his bed, keeping pressure on her wound with one hand while he stroked her dark hair away from her sweaty forehead with the other.

"Please stay with me, Liz. Please." He leaned forward and lightly kissed her cheek. He was afraid he was crushing her by the amount of pressure he was putting on her wound, but he didn't want her to lose any more blood then she already had.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Toby came running through the door dressed in raggedy denim and a scuffed leather vest that was probably older than Clark , looking as mangy as ever.

"How's she doing, kid?"

"I don't know. She's still got a heartbeat but it's getting weaker."

"Move, and lemme take a look."

Kal moved aside, still keeping pressure on her wound with one hand. "That's good," Toby absently said. "Keep your hand right there until we're ready to take out the knife. I'm just gonna give her a sedative so she won't feel the stitches." Toby spoke to Kal calmly as he filled a syringe with the proper amount of medication and injected it into her arm. Then he injected Novocain all around the wound to numb it. He checked her pulse and her pupils for signs the sedative was working, and after about five minutes he told Kal, "Okay, put your other arm across her chest to keep her still. You hold her there, now, here we go."

Kal took his hand away and Toby quickly replaced it with his own while he used his other to steadily slide the knife out of Liz's flesh. Her body automatically flinched and she tried to curl herself into a ball but Kal held his arm firmly across her chest forcing her shoulder down while he watched her face because he couldn't bear to look at the blood flowing from her body any longer.

"It doesn't look like any organs where punctured," Toby mumbled. "That's a good thing." He quickly got to work stitching the wound to stop the bleeding.

It was a while before Liz's body finally relaxed, but the drugs had kicked all the way in by now and after a few minutes Toby was finally finished.

"Okay, let me just clean this up a little and put a dressing on it, then I'll check her over for any other wounds."

"Yeah," Kal said, "I think her right hand needs stitches, too." He finally took his eyes off her face to look at the "doctor's" handiwork. "So she'll be okay, right?" he asked him, sounding very much like the big-eyed kid Toby remembered.

"She got pretty lucky," he answered. "A few centimeters over and that knife would have pierced her lung. She'll be sore as hell for a while, but she should be fine. I'll leave some pain pills and antibiotics with you to give her every few hours for the next week or so. Now let me take a look at her hand."

Toby picked up Liz's right hand and turned it palm-up. "Oh yeah, that needs to be sewn up." Liz had a diagonal gash from her index finger to the heel of her palm from the broken piece of glass she'd used to cut Billy with.

Kal absently stroked Liz's hair as he looked over the rest of her body with his x-ray vision, searching for any injuries he might have missed. When he didn't find any he blinked back to 20/20 and watched as Toby finished sewing her hand.

"Well, that should do it," he smirked, and he wrapped gauze around her hand, then quickly looked her over for any other injuries.

Kal had the sudden urge to punch him in his face for looking at his girl, but he held back because he knew Toby wasn't really trying to check her out. But still, this very strong feeling of possessiveness took him weirdly off guard.

He didn't like being taken off guard.

"Put some ice on that eye to help with swelling," Toby said.

"Ice. Got it." Kal moved off the bed to the kitchen and put some ice in a towel, and then he came back and placed it over Liz's eye.

"So. You got cash for me, kid?"

"Yeah. How much?"

"Five grand for tonight and another five to come back and check on her a couple of times."

Kal didn't bat an eye. "Be right back," he said, and walked over to the safe in his closet and removed the money.

"Pleasure doing business with ya, kid. Say… it's too bad about Lex, don't ya think?"

"Oh, he's alive," Kal said. "It'd take more then a plane crash to kill Lex Luthor."

Toby cackled and sounded about a hundred and four years old. "I hope you're right. He always kept my cash flow pretty steady. Well, I'll come by in the morning to check on her. Try to get some rest."

"Thank, doc. See ya in the morning." Kal walked Toby to the door and then locked it behind him. He rested his head on the doorframe and took a few deep breaths before heading back to Liz.

"Well, there goes that set of sheets," he muttered to himself as he looked over the bloody mess that was his bed. He super sped to the bathroom and wet some clean wash cloths to finish cleaning Liz up with. He gently stripped her out of her bloody clothes and replaced them with one of his oversized black t-shirts, and then he moved her to the leather couch so he could changed the silk sheets.

Finally, he stripped out of his own bloody clothes down to his black boxers and carried the whole mess out to the balcony to incinerate with his heat vision. "There. Done," he said, and walked back inside, picked up Liz's sleeping form and placed her back in his bed.

He carefully covered her with the blankets then moved to the other side and crawled in beside her. Snuggling up beside her, he laid his arm protectively across her body again, just in case she were to suddenly wake up. He didn't want her to try and sit up and pull the stitches.

Kal lay awake for hours watching Liz as she slept. Making sure she kept breathing. He was exhausted, but he couldn't take his eyes off her. The angry bruise on her eye and the choke marks on her neck showed how much of a struggle she had put up and how determined Billy had been to kill her. The thought infuriated him all over again and he wished he could have squeezed the life out of Billy himself.

Finally, around four in the morning, he drifted off to sleep. He woke again several hours later when Liz's breathing pattern changed.

She was waking up.

Kal lay silently and watched as she slowly opened her eyes. He could tell she was confused by her surroundings and must not remember yet what had happened last night.

"Hey, sleepyhead."

Liz's eyes darted toward the voice, then softened immediately when she saw Kal. "Hi." It came out hoarse and scratchy. "What happened? she whispered.

"I found you in the alley. You'd been stabbed. Do you remember?"

She seemed confused for a moment as she thought back to the previous day. But her eyes suddenly went wide as everything flooded back to her at once. She immediately tried to sit up and figure out where exactly she was, but Kal's solid arm held her down.

"Whoa, easy. It's okay, you're at my place, not in a hospital. You're safe now. I promise. But you can't sit up too quickly or you'll rip your stitches."

"Oh… okay." Her body relaxed a little beneath his arm and her gaze returned to his. "Thank you so much," she choked out as tears started to slide down her cheeks.

"For what? Lotta good I did. You almost died."

"But I didn't, because you found me."

"True... In that case, you're welcome." He smiled and kissed her softly on the lips. "How are you feeling? Do you need a pain pill? The doctor left me some to give you every few hours."

"Mmm... yeah. I am pretty sore all over, especially my stomach."

"That's understandable, considering the knife that was sticking out of it." Kal rolled over and grabbed the bottles of pills and a glass of water off his night stand, and then turned back to her. "Open." He held two pills to her lips, and when she'd taken the pills into her mouth he held the glass of water for her. "Drink."

She obeyed him and he helped her lie back on the pillows.

"So why were you looking for me, anyway?" she asked a few seconds later.

"Well I... I don't know, really. I just wanted to see you again, I guess. Then I found out you and that Billy guy got into a fight and I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Really? That's one of the sweetest things anyone's ever done for me."

"That's me all around. A sweet guy," Kal dead panned. And then he quietly asked her, "Why did you take off so fast yesterday morning? We had a good time, right?"

Liz's eyes went wide with shock. "Oh my God, of course I had a great time! I mean it was great, _you_ were great, amazing really." Her voice strained as she tried to make him understand why she'd left. "I just didn't want to wake you. We didn't get a whole lot of sleep, remember? And you just looked so peaceful that I didn't want to bother you."

Kal just stared at her like she had three heads. "Didn't want to bother me? How could waking up next to you possibly be a bother?"

Liz blushed and dropped her gaze. Kal gently lifted her chin to force her to look at him. "Liz, you have no idea how amazing you are, do you?"

It was her turn to look at him like _he_ had three heads. "I'm just another runaway. Nothing special, trust me," she whispered, tears gathering in her eyes.

"Hey. Let me be the judge of that. What was so important you needed to rush out of here, anyway?"

"Nothing. I was just trying to avoid a blowout with Billy, which was exactly what I got anyway."

"So you were trying to sneak in unnoticed? What do you care what any of those fuckers think of you anyway?"

"I don't. I was just trying to stay out of trouble."

"Yeah, well. You could have just stayed here and avoided a whole lot more trouble."

"I realize that now... but how was I even supposed to know you wanted me to stay? And besides, it seemed like you had enough going on without me adding to it."

Kal suddenly remembered bits and pieces of the previous night; his chest on fire, the ring coming off, him crying like a girl into her chest. _Dammit that fuckin' pussy, Kent ! She probably thinks we're a goddamned nutcase. Good going._ "Uh... I don't really remember the whole night. I was a little messed up. So if I said or did anything weird, that was probably why. But trust me. I don't have a lot going on. In fact, my calendar is wide open. Unless of course you'd rather go back to staying in an abandoned building?"

"Wow, stay here? Really? I uh... I don't know what to say."

"Well, you have to stay here for now anyway, because you're hurt. After you're healed you can decide what you want to do. Deal?"

"Deal."

"Good, cause I'm starved. You just lay here and rest while I go pick us up some food. What do you want for breakfast?"

"Uh...I'm not sure. I don't really eat breakfast." And she wondered if she'd ever keep anything down again after last night.

"I'll bring you anything you want, just name it."

"French toast sounds pretty good," she quietly said, hoping he'd understand if she couldn't swallow it.

"French toast it is." He kissed her on the lips, then slid out of bed and dressed quickly in a clean pair of black jeans and a dark green t-shirt. "Don't try to get up while I'm gone. I won't be long."

She nodded from under the covers on his bed, watching as he went through the door, listening as he locked it behind him. Such a small thing, locking her in so she'd be safe, but to her it felt like heaven. It felt like being protected.

She lay looking around his room, listening to the silence and the faint buzz of early morning traffic outside. She couldn't really see much lying flat on her back, so she carefully pulled herself up with her left hand, mindful of her stitches, and looked around the room she hadn't really taken the time to notice the last time she was in it.

There was a huge flat screen TV on the wall across from the foot of the bed. Glass shelving at the corner of the wall separated the entryway and the bedroom and was sparsely decorated with a few expensive looking trinkets. The small kitchen with two bar stools at the island was in the far corner by a door that looked unused. _He probably eats out all the time, _she thought.

Next to the kitchen was a wall made of floor-to-ceiling windows that ran the entire length of the room. A black leather chair sat catty-corner to the couch with a glass end table between, a lamp sitting on top of it. At the far end of the windowed wall was a glass door that led out onto a small patio with a ladder leading up to the roof on it. The opposite wall from the windows had a black dresser against it with several expensive looking watches lined up on top of it.

On the same wall as the TV was the bathroom door. _Remote, where's the damn remote?_ She finally saw it on the night stand on the opposite side of the bed. She leaned over and tried to reach it with her bandaged hand but a sharp pain in her stomach stopped her abruptly. "Ow. Guess I'll just be sitting here resting," she muttered disgustedly, and sighed.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

WARNING!!! This chapter contains a rape scene. Just wanted to let ya'll know up front in case anyone wants to skip it, it's in italics.

Also, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that's reviewed. Your feedback is always appreciated!

Chapter 5

"Hey, Kal. You look like you're in a much better mood today." Rosie smiled at him as he came into the diner.

He slid onto a stool at the counter and smiled back, just because he liked her. "Well, I found what I was looking for, thanks to you."

"That's great, sugar. So what would you like for breakfast?"

"The usual. But add an order of French toast to it to go, and a cup of black coffee while I wait."

"To go, huh? Not joining me for breakfast this morning?"

"Sorry, darling, not today." Kal gave her a mischievous wink as he took a drink of his coffee, and within a few minutes he was walking out the door with his breakfast, leaving two hundred-dollar bills on the counter behind him.

"Well. Boy he must be in a really good mood today! He left even more than usual," Rosie commented to the cook as she collected the money from the counter. Kal had just bought her groceries for the next month, bless his good-lookin' heart.

A few moments later he was back at his place balancing the food in one hand while he unlocked the door with the other.

"I'm back."

"Wow, that was fast," Liz yawned.

"Told ya." He carried everything to the bed and began pulling container after container out of the plastic bags, setting them on top of the covers.

"Um. That's a lot of food. Did you order one of everything off the menu?"

"Ha ha. You better watch it or I'll eat yours too. Besides, I'm just trying to keep my strength up." His eyes roamed over her body as he spoke, causing a flash of heat to wind its slow, delicious way through her body.

Liz gulped and looked at the styrofoam containers. "So which is mine?"

He handed her the French toast and then sat down on the bed next to her, starting in on his own breakfast.

"Well. This should be interesting," Liz said as she tried to pick up her plastic spork with her right hand. But she couldn't grasp it with bandages wrapped halfway up her forearm. "Okay, let's try the left," she grumbled, and Kal watched her struggle to cut her food as he ate his own.

Something in him wanted to reach over and take the utensils from her hands and do the whole job himself. He found himself even wanting to feed her every bite, just because she was hurt and he didn't like knowing it, seeing it. But another part of him, _this_ part – the part he wanted to become – demanded that he laugh off her struggle and not care.

"Need some help?" he said with a low, dark chuckle between bites of his eggs.

"Keep laughing and I'll poke you with my spork."

"I'm terrified," he mocked, and finally reached over with his own spork and cut her food one-handed, sighing like it aggravated the hell out of him to do it. But then he brought a gooey, syrup-drenched bite up to her lips, and she opened her mouth just as a drop of warm syrup dripped down onto her bottom lip.

Kal's eyes dipped to her mouth, completely fixated as her tongue darted out to swipe the syrup away before her lips closed around the food. "God. I can't wait til you're healed so I can get you under me again."

Liz swallowed hard and sat perfectly still, feeling a hot flush color her whole body. "Mmm, I'm feeling better already."

She leaned toward him and he captured her lips for a scorching kiss, dropping the forks and flinging his plate to the side. Before she knew what was happening she was being pushed onto her back, food containers shoved out of the way.

Kal held his body inches away from hers with one hand as his other pushed under the t-shirt she

wore and ran up the length of her body to cup her bare breast, the one he knew wasn't hurt. Her left hand came up and she ran her fingers through his silky dark curls, pulling him down to her for another kiss. His tongue sought entrance and she quickly opened her mouth, their tongues tangled together as he groaned and fked her mouth with his. He slid his hand down her torso, moving slowly toward her sex, when his fingers glided over the bandages covering her wound.

Feeling the rough gauze beneath his palm, his hand stopped moving, his mouth stopped fking and his eyes snapped open.

Liz's eyes fluttered and she looked up at him, confused as to why he'd stopped.

"I don't wanna hurt you," he said, gruff and low against her mouth. They were nose to nose, so close that all she could see was the green of his eyes.

"Please, Kal. I'm fine, really. I need you… please," she panted breathlessly, staring at his mouth.

"Really?" The hand over her wound pushed down slightly.

"Ow!" Tears sprang into her eyes as she gasped and bit her bottom lip to keep it from trembling.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," he almost growled. "Finish your breakfast. I'm gonna take a cold shower."

He shoved himself off the bed and stalked toward the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. Staring into the mirror above the vanity, he gripped the marble counter top so tightly that it cracked in his hands.

_You need to calm down. You're gonna scare her away if you're not careful._ It was Clark.

"Shut up," Kal growled out hatefully in a low whisper. "If I wanted your opinion, I'd ask for it." He then stepped away from the mirror and stripped before turning the cold water on full blast and standing under the spray with his head bowed against the tiled wall.

Liz lay frozen on the bed, wondering what in the hell had just happened. _Okay, what the fuck was that all about?_ She propped herself back up on the pillow behind her and was tempted to just sit there and sulk but her growling stomach and the fact that she couldn't remember her last meal made her change her mind quickly.

She had finished eating long ago and was just sitting, waiting for what seemed like forever for Kal to emerge from the bathroom, but he still hadn't come out and it was starting to both worry her and make her just a little bit mad. So she quickly made up her mind, _If he won't come out then I'll go in._

Besides, she really had to pee anyway and she hadn't had a chance to see how bad her face looked yet.

"Okay. You can do this." She pulled herself to the edge of the bed with her left hand, and then swung her feet to the floor and carefully stood up, holding a protective hand to her stomach. "Not so bad," she encouraged herself in a shaky whisper as she slowly made her way around the bed.

It took her awhile but she finally made it to the bathroom door. She reached out a shaky hand toward the knob, not sure all of the sudden if this was such a great idea.

"Kal? Can I come in? I uh… gotta go." she called through the door.

But she got no answer. She could hear the water running still so she figured he just hadn't heard her. She turned the knob and slowly peeked her head around the door. "Kal? I'm coming in, I really gotta go."

No answer.

But Kal had heard her. He was just trying to block out the sound of her voice because even that was turning him on. And obviously this long, cold, _expensive_ fucking shower wasn't working, because he was so hard and tight that he was ready to spray the wall in front of him if he even breathed wrong.

Liz took a tentative step inside the room and placed a hand on the counter top to help balance herself. She felt something rough under her hand and looked down to see a long crack running the length of the counter top.

"Holy shit," she muttered under her breath, knowing it hadn't been there yesterday.

Finally she looked up into the mirror and couldn't hold in the loud gasp of shock at what she was seeing. Her left eye and cheek where swollen and black and blue, her neck was almost covered in bruises the shape of Billy's fingers, and her hair was a complete mess.

"I... look... my… my face!" she cried, and tears instantly began streaming down her cheeks and she started hyperventilating as she gripped the counter with all of her strength to keep from falling over. Everything started to go black and her grip loosened as her knees gave out and she started sliding down to the floor.

"Hey, shh... I got ya."

Kal sped out of the shower and caught her as she started to fall.

Holding her up by her arms, he turned her away from the mirror. Her body slumped back against his wet chest. "Liz? Liz, wake up!"

She moaned and tried to raise her head. "What...what happened?"

Kal turned them both so that he was leaning back against the wall and her back was to the vanity mirror, bent his knees and peered down into her eyes, his worried gaze a piercing blue-green. "You passed out for a second. What are you doing out of bed anyway?"

"I," She swallowed and tried again. "I...huh...I need to use the bathroom." Gripping his forearms she steadied herself and stared at the droplets of water clinging to his bare chest, gulping at how _good_ that looked and made herself take a step back. "I'm sorry. I tried to wait but you've been in here a really long time."

"Don't be sorry. I was just trying to cool down."

"Well I don't think it's working," she whispered. "You feel really warm to me." And she touched the side of his face with the back of her hand. "Oh my God, you're burning up!"

Kal took her hand in his and kissed the tips of her fingers, making her eyes go wide and her breath catch when he laughed, deep and rumbly against her skin. "I'm fine. You just make me really hot," he said in that soft, sexy voice she'd come to love hearing. "But we can't, you're hurt and so I'm just gonna have to deal with it."

Tears gathered in her eyes, making his face go all blurry. "I can't see how you could possibly be turned on by me right now. I look like a monster. I just wanna put a paper bag over my head til these damn bruises go away."

"You could have two black eyes and I'd still think you were gorgeous." Kal leaned in and lightly kissed her forehead, and then turned her toward the tiny room with the toilet in it. "Go to the bathroom then I'll help you wash your hair."

Kal sped through dressing and then waited for Liz to reappear. "Better?" he asked her when she came back out.

She nodded at him, looking down at the floor, anywhere but at him, and he took her hand and lead her over to the jacuzzi tub and helped her step into it. "Lean back under the faucet and I'll wash your hair."

"You sure you can handle touching me without bursting into flames?" Liz teased.

"It's not me I'm worried about catching on fire," he said, and he sounded so tense it was scary.

Liz leaned back into Kal's big hand as his fingers splayed across her back and held her easily. His other hand gently massaged warm water through her hair before lathering it up with fruity smelling shampoo. A few minutes later they were finished and he was helping her out of the tub. "What about the rest of me?" She batted her eyelashes at him playfully.

"You'll have to do the rest on your own. Because if I see the rest of you right now I don't think I'll be able to control myself. But call me if you need help and I'll be right back."

"Okay." She stuck out her bottom lip and pouted as he left the bathroom.

Stepping up to the sink Liz pulled his t-shirt off over her head, and her mouth hung open as she gaped at her bruised body. She had a bite mark on one of her breasts, the nipple still smeared with a vibrant slash of blood, teeth marks that had cut through the skin bringing back the phantom burn of him biting her. There was a huge, black and purple bruise on her stomach, welted and swollen where Billy had kicked her, and then there was the bandage that covered the stab wound.

Looking further down she saw even more bruising left by his fingers on her inner thighs, and she swore she could still feel his hands on her, the pain reaching down into her bones. Turning around and looking over her shoulder, she saw another large bruise on her back, probably from where she'd landed on the ground after he yanked her off the ladder.

She turned back around to face the mirror and steadied herself against the counter top as flashes from her past assaulted her.

Kal was getting more agitated by the second. He had already finished eating his very large breakfast after reheating it with his heat vision, and she still hadn't come out of the bathroom. He x-rayed the door and saw her just standing there with tears streaming down her face.

"Liz? You okay in there?" he called form the other side, but she didn't answer, and he watched her stand there and continue to stare. "I'm coming in, Liz."

Just as he turned the doorknob, his cell phone rang.

He moved to the other side of the room to answer it. "What?" he barked.

"Morning. It's Toby," came a cackling voice through the line. "I thought I'd swing by and check on the patient. How's she doing today?"

"Okay, but I think she might be in shock." He scanned the bathroom door again, and this time she was giving herself a birdbath at the sink.

"Well, that's to be expected after something like this. I'll be there in about a half an hour okay?"

"Yeah. Sure, Doc." Kal hung up the phone and walked back over to the bathroom door.

The knob turning snapped Liz out of her trance, and she quickly started cleaning herself so she could cover up before Kal saw her. No matter what he said about how gorgeous he thought she was, she didn't want him seeing her like this.

Kal knocked on the door this time as he watched her through the wood, frantically scrubbing herself. "Liz, I'm coming in."

"Just a sec, I'm almost done." She tried to make her voice as chipper as possible even though tears where still streaming from her eyes. She grabbed a large towel and wrapped herself up in it just as he opened the door.

"Hey. You okay?"

"Yeah. It's just a little hard to do everything left-handed." She was visibly shaking as she brought the back of her hand to her eyes to dry them.

"Hey, come here." He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her, rocking her back and forth as he kissed the top of her head and let her sob into his chest. And he didn't stop to acknowledge that this was quite possibly the gentlest he'd been since the day he left Smallville. "Shh," he murmured into her hair. "It's okay now, I promise. The doctor's on his way to check up on you, so let's get you back to bed."

"Does he really have to come back? I'm fine."

"He's on his way, end of discussion." Kal steered her out of the bathroom and helped her back into bed still wrapped in the towel. He got one of his clean t-shirts and brought it to her.

"Thanks," she sniffled.

"No problem. I guess we'll have to get you your own clothes eventually."

"I like to wear yours."

"I like it, too," he grinned, and slipped his shirt over her head, then helped her work her arms through the sleeves.

"So how many channels does that big-ass TV get?" Liz asked.

"Oh, about five hundred. You wanna find something to watch?"

"Sure." Kal stood up and grabbed the remote off the bedside table and handed it to her after he turned the power on.

After about two minutes, she told him drolly, "Wow. So many choices and still nothing on."

"I usually just watch sports."

Liz rolled her eyes and finally left it on MTV, and then just fiddled self-consciously with the remote.

"So you ever gonna tell me why I couldn't take you to a hospital in the first place?"

"Billy's dead cause of me." Liz blurted out. "Even though it was self defense, it doesn't mean they'd believe me. And I'd rather be dead then in jail. And if you would have taken me to an ER, that's right where I would have wound up." Liz's voice started to tremble and her stomach rolled as the memory of Billy's lifeless body, heavy and oozing blood flashed threw her mind.

"I wouldn't have let that happen." Kal replied, watching her intently.

"Well the last time I was in a hospital I didn't get a choice about where they sent me, so I'd rather just avoid them altogether." Liz finally answered after a long pause.

"Ok, I got it. No hospitals," he quietly said. Because after all, he had some hellacious reasons of his own for not wanting to ever end up in a hospital, didn't he?

Just then there was a knock on the door. Kal got up and soundlessly walked toward it, x-raying through the steel the closer he got and then opening it for Toby.

"Morning!" Toby all but shouted, and Kal thought the old goat probably knew just how obnoxious and loud he sounded. And God, did he ever comb his hair? It looked like a big-ass wind blew it up and it completely forgot to lay back down again.

"Morning," he muttered back, shutting the door.

"Well, you're looking much better today, my dear."

Liz looked ready to jump out the window. "Kal. Is this guy really a doctor?"

"Hey, you're the one that wouldn't let me take you to a hospital. But yes, he used to be a real doctor. Now he's doing... on-call work."

"I assure you, Miss, you're in good hands," Toby said in all seriousness, and the sound of his respectable bedside manner seemed a little less incongruent as he patted Liz's hand and sat on the edge of the bed next to her. "I just want to take your vitals and check your bandages, that's it."

"Okay." Liz let out a shaky breath. At least all his stuff looked clean, she thought, and lifted her tongue as he held a thermometer to her lips. He took her blood pressure and picked up her right hand to inspect the bandage. "The idea is to keep these dry," he said, back to his smoke-hoarse voice.

"Sorry."

Toby unwrapped her hand and she was able to see the stitches for the first time. "Wow, good job, Doc."

"I told ya you were in good hands." Liz grinned up at him, the curve of her mouth making Kal's breath hitch just a little, but he made himself pay attention when Toby spoke again. "Okay now, I just need to take a peek at your stomach." And he moved to lift her t-shirt.

But Liz instinctively clutched at the hem to stay covered, her eyes shooting to Kal's.

"It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you."

"Liz let go, it's okay." Kal gently pulled her hand away and lifted the shirt enough to expose her stomach, making sure the sheet still covered her lower half.

Toby removed the bandage carefully and checked to make sure none of the stitches had ripped before putting a new bandage on. "Alright, that does it, I think," and he looked up at Kal. "I'll leave you some gauze to change her bandages daily and come back in ten days to remove the stitches. Unless you need me for anything before then."

"Thanks," Liz whispered.

"Thanks, Doc."

"Anytime, Mr. Kent . After all, any friend of Lex Luthor's is someone I don't want to piss off."

"Haha, smart man," Kal said in a dry voice, and he walked Toby to the door and locked it behind him after he left.

"See? That wasn't so bad, was it?" Kal slipped back into bed, pulling Liz into his arms.

"No, you were right. That went fine."

"Here. It's time for your meds." Kal reached to the side table for her pills and water.

"Thanks." She took the pills and water offered to her and then settled back down onto Kal's chest, using him as a pillow.

"Try to get some rest," he whispered, and he kissed the top of her head. She heard the volume on the TV go down, but all she seemed to feel was his hand caressing her arm as she fell into a fitful sleep.

_Granville 2001_

_"Hey, Lizzie girl. Whatcha cookin, good lookin?" _

_"Just boiling water for mac & cheese, Larry." _

_"Where's yo mama at, girl?" He invaded her personal space, pushing her into the stove with his groin while he ran a hand up her thigh. _

_"On the couch, asshole," she said as she elbowed him in the gut and tried to push him off her with her backside. _

_"Ooh, I knew you liked it rough, you dirty little girl." His hand snaked around and covered her sex, gripping down hard. _

_"Ow! Get off me Larry, you're drunk! MOM!!" Liz shouted only to get no response from the living room. The couch was in full view of the stove and she could see her mother laying on it. She was sleeping so soundly that she appeared to be dead, but Liz knew better. _

_She wasn't dead, just dead drunk. _

_His grip between her legs tightened and he set down the beer he'd been holding in his other hand, wrapping that arm around her chest and pulling her down onto the floor along with him. _

_"MOM WAKE UP!!!" she screamed.. _

_"Don't waste your breath, girlie. She can't hear you," Larry whispered sourly into her ear from behind her before he started kissing and licking the back of her neck, his scruffy chin scratching her skin. _

_"Get off me, you sick fuck!! MOM!" _

_He flipped her onto her back before she knew what was happening. Her arms and legs were flailing, as she tried desperately to get him off her. He sat on her thighs to keep from getting kicked as he pulled the straps of her tank top down to expose her breasts to him. He rose above her, forcing one of his knees in between her legs. _

_Still thrashing about, searching for any kind of a weapon, Liz was able to sit up just enough for her fingertips to touch the handle of the boiling pot of water. She strained as far as she could and managed to hook a finger around the handle as Larry lowered his head to one of her breasts and began sucking on her nipple. The pot slipped off the stove and scalding water sloshed out of it, then spilled completely and landed on Larry's shoulder, running off his shirt and landing directly on Liz's naked skin._

_"AHH!!" They both screamed in unison as the water burned them both at the same time. _

_"Stupid fucking bitch! Now why'd you go and do a thing like that? We're just havin' a little fun here, nothin' wrong with that, now is there?" _

_Liz was still struggling and screaming while tears raced down her face. Her fists came to his chest and she pounded on him as hard as she could. _

_"Aaaw, come on now, stop being that way." Larry easily grabbed her wrists and held them together in one hand as the other worked the button and zipper of her jeans. _

_"Larry...please my shoulder... it hurts!" she cried, begging him because she could feel her skin blistering now, burning like fire where the water was cooling in the air. _

_"Well I guess you shoulda thought about that before you dumped the pot of boiling water, sweetheart." He had her zipper down and he was tugging down her jeans and cotton underwear at the same time with his free hand. A few moments later he had them pulled down to her ankles and slipped them past her bare feet. She tired to kick her way free but he was just too big and strong compared to her, and he quickly overpowered her, sitting heavily on her thighs once again. _

_"Look at that pretty little pussy. Just begging to be touched." He reached out his index finger and _

_stroked her in between the folds of her sex._

_"NO STOP!! MOM!!" _

_"Dammit girl, now that's enough!" He smacked her hard across the face then leaned down and kissed the spot on her cheek where he'd hit her. "Sorry, but I'm done with all the yelling. Now, __where were we?" _

_Liz was starting to hyperventilate and she could hardly see past the wall of tears in her eyes. Her mind began to shut itself down as if it could just ignore what was happening to her body. Her eyelids slid shut and her body went limp, giving up the futile battle._

_Within seconds Larry had his button and zipper undone and he shoved his boxers out of the way of his erection. He forced his knees in between her legs again, this time not meeting hardly any resistance. He stretched her hands above her head and held them with one hand as with the other he positioned his cock at the entrance to her sex. "Yeah, that's it. Nice, tight little pussy." He shoved hard against her dry passage, forcing his way in. _

_The pain was so sharp and too much for her mind to block. It brought her back to reality as she let out a piercing scream. "AHH!!! IT HURTS PLEASE STOP!! PLEASE!" _

_But he just kept pushing, ignoring her screams, too caught up in his own sick fantasy where he thought she was actually enjoying this. "We just gotta pop that cherry, baby. Then it won't hurt so much." He continued to thrust, working his way into her small body until his cock was coated with her blood. "Ah, yeah. There we go, baby." He lowered his lips to her nipple and sucked it into his mouth, grunting as he approached his climax. _

_"Mom… anybody..." Liz mewled, weak and so blind sided with the pain of his movements that she didn't have the energy left to even scream. Her voice barely came out as a whisper, and she knew no one could hear her._

_"What the FUCK, Man!" It sounded like her brother but she could hardly hear past the pounding in her ears. _

_WHACK!!... she heard what sounded like the pot slamming into something. All of a sudden she could breathe again and her arms weren't pinned down and her body wasn't being crushed into the kitchen floor. _

_Looking to her side she saw Larry sprawled out on his back, knocked out from her brother breaking the pot on the back of his head._

_"You fucking piece of shit!" Bobby was screaming as he punched him over and over in his face, until finally he broke his own hand. _

_Liz curled into a ball, trying to cover up as she searched for her jeans. _

_Bobby had switched from punching to kicking. "Lizzie, are you okay?" He called back over his shoulder as he continued to kick Larry in the stomach. _

_"No, my shoulder… it hurts!" She was sobbing and trying to pull her jeans back on. _

_"What? Holy shit, Lizzie, what happened to your shoulder?" Bobby fell onto his knees at her side, inspecting the melted flesh that was hanging from her upper arm and shoulder. _

_"The pot... I was trying to get away..." _

_"Shh ...it's okay." He pulled her to him and held her close. "I'm gonna call 911. You need to go to the hospital. And… I think I need to go, too. I broke my hand on his ugly face." _

_Bobby got up from the kitchen floor and headed for the phone in the living room while Liz slid her jeans back up and pulled up the strap on the right side of her tank top. She leaned back against the stove pulling her knees to her chest and stared over at Larry, watching blood flow freely from what used to be his nose and mouth. His chest was still rising and falling so she knew he was still alive, but at least he was unconscious. _

_"Hello? Yeah, I need an ambulance at 57 Shady Ave. ... I found my mom's boyfriend raping my little sister… She's hurt pretty bad." _

_Whoever was on the other end of the line assured Bobby that help was on its way, and he hung up the phone, then walked to the couch. "Mom? Mom wake up!" He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. _

_Finally, she stirred. "Huh... what? Dammit Bobby, what is it?" _

_"I can't believe you slept through that!" he roared down at her, crying and sobbing, wiping tears furiously from his eyes. "I heard her screaming from down the street!" _

_"Heard what?" Patty sat up on the couch and followed her son's eyes to the kitchen. "Lizzie? Baby, what happened to you?"_

_Patty stood on wobbly legs and slowly made her way toward the kitchen. "Honey, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" _

_Liz heard her mother talking but she still couldn't really understand what she was saying over all the pounding in her head. She took her eyes off Larry and saw her mother stumbling toward her. "Stay away from me!" she suddenly shrieked. "You're too late! You where right there on the couch and all you had to do was wake up! But you couldn't cause you were drunk." And she began sobbing uncontrollably, wailing in pain and heartbreak and anger that boiled over too fast for her to stop it. "So just sit back down before you fall over." _

_"Mom, she's right, you are gonna fall over." And Bobby steered his mother back to the couch, hating her and loving her, furious that things couldn't be different, and then he went back to the kitchen and waited on the floor with Liz for the ambulance to arrive... _

_"_Liz? Come on baby, wake up. It's just a dream." Kal was speaking against her ear, gently but firmly. Just a little desperately. "Wake up, Liz… please, it's just a dream."

"Bobby?" She opened her eyes to intense green ones with red flashing through them.

"No… Who's Bobby?"

"Kal, oh God, Kal," she whispered, her voice trembling with remembered terror and shock. "I… I'm sorry. I… Bobby's my brother. I forgot where I was for a second."

"You were having a bad dream. I've been trying to wake you for ten minutes... are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, swallowing down sobs and trying hard not to launch herself against him and hold on. "It must be these pain pills I'm on. They make me feel like my head's in a fog."

"So, you wanna talk about it?" Kal asked her quietly.

"What?" she hedged.

"Your nightmare?"

"No, not really. I'd like to forget it. I'd done a pretty good job forgetting it until… until last night..." She trailed off, looking away from him, not seeing anything around her except dim remnants of the ghosts that had been screaming through her until she heard Kal's voice.

"Are you saying last night wasn't the first time something like that's happened to you?"

"No, it wasn't. The first time was awhile ago... I'm sorry, I just can't... " Tears were flowing down her cheeks and she sat up turning her body away from Kal's.

"Hey, come here. It's okay." He pulled her back to him, holding her securely in his massive arms. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Trust me, I've got plenty of things I can't talk about."

"It's not that... that I don't want to tell you...I just can't... can't relive it."

"I get it," he whispered against her ear. "Really, I do." He turned her chin towards him and kissed her gently on the lips.

"Mmm, that helps me forget," she sighed. God, his mouth was soft, the softest thing she'd ever felt in her life. And warm, and…

"Yeah? Well, I could do this all day if you need it."

"I need it," she mouthed, no sound at all.

Kal kissed her again, this time swiping his tongue across her lip, wanting inside, and she quickly opened up. Her body sank back into the pillows and Kal rolled up on his side, balancing on his forearm while he cupped her cheek with his other hand. They kissed for what seemed like hours, his breathing beginning to come harder and faster and his hand had moved down to grip her hip while he ground his erection into her thigh.

He finally broke away and they both gasped for air. "Wow... that really does help."

"Well I'm glad it helps one of us. God, you have no idea how badly I want you. I need to get some air." And he stood up beside the bed, adjusting his massive erection in his jeans, and then headed for the door.

"Kal!" she called after him.

"Yeah." He answered without looking back.

She whispered to him across the room, "I'm sorry I keep doing that to you. I promise to make up for it when I'm feeling better." Because she understood him now, she thought, she understood the need in him – _for her_ – that he couldn't seem to control as easily as he'd like to.

He flashed her a sharp grin over his shoulder. "I'm gonna hold you to that, you know."

"Oh, I know."

"I'll be back," he told her quietly.

"I'll be here."

And with that, Kal slipped out the front door and into the night, leaving Liz alone in his big bed, her lips still tingling and swollen from his kisses.

Within seconds Kal was at the entrance to club Atlantis, weaving his body through the crowd of unworthy people hoping to be allowed inside.

"Hey Kal, what's up, man?" The doorman lifted the velvet rope and stepped aside.

"Not much. Just lookin' to blow of some steam." His senses were assaulted by the overwhelming sights and smells of the club. Hundreds of people grinding and writhing against each other, practically having sex. Some actually were, and his nostrils flared as the smell of sex hit him, causing his erection to harden even further.

He clenched his jaw and made his way toward the bar.

"Kal! Missed ya last night." The bartender greeted him with a handshake.

"Mmm, I was busy. Give me two shots of whisky and a beer, and keep 'em coming." And he laid a hundred-dollar bill on the counter.

"Sure thing, man."

Kal downed his shots, then picked up his beer and turned around to look out over the crowd.

"Any hot little thing caught your eye yet?" the bartender laughingly asked him.

"Nope, not yet." Actually, that wasn't true, Kal thought; she just wasn't here. And he closed his eyes for a second, blocking out the dizzying flares of white strobe light and got a fast glimpse of Liz the way he'd left her, sexy and warm and sleep-rumpled in his bed… waiting for him to come back.

He opened his eyes again when his cock hardened so fast that it took his breath, and he forcefully pushed thoughts of her out of his mind so he could release the tension in his pants with some anonymous girl.

Beer in hand, he pushed through the crowd to a group of girls all dancing together. "Ladies."

"Hey, baby. Wanna join us?" One of the girls grabbed his arm and he let himself be pulled into the center of the group. They all moved in close, grinding their bodies against his, and he let the sensations take him over, let himself begin to sway with them, breathing in the smell of arousal coming off them in waves.

Raising his beer to his lips and downing it in two gulps he thought, _Yeah, this could definitely work._

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks to everyone that reviewed. Hope you like the next chapter.

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Chapter 6

Chloe could not believe her own eyes. She had just seen Clark walk into the club like he owned the place, go up to the bar and greet the bartender like they were best friends, slug down about four drinks, and now he was surrounded by four girls who were rubbing their half-naked bodies all over him. While he _drank a beer and acted like this was something that happened to him all the time. _

What. The _fuck?_ Clark Kent just didn't _do_ that, so what was going on?

She was _so_ going to find out.

She was at the club with some friends from the Daily Planet. They'd made her a fake ID and snuck her in to celebrate her landing the internship for the summer. And now she couldn't believe her luck in spotting Clark. He'd run away from home three weeks ago and hadn't been heard from since. She wanted to go up to him and shake some sense into him, maybe even hug him for about an hour, and find out what the hell had gotten into him.

But she watched him for a while instead, learning almost instantly that this new, confident Clark confused her. Hell, he even scared her a little bit. Because the Clark she had always known was definitely male, but genuine and sweet, and that made him sexy to her.

But _this_ Clark? Was hard-edged and definitely… not sweet, she could tell with one look at him. No, this Clark was ferally _hot_, and he knew it. He moved like a sex crime waiting to happen, and Chloe couldn't deny the effect it had on her just to sit there and look at him, and marvel at the differences between this darkly beautiful man and the bashful, blushing teenaged boy who she'd thought was her best friend. So she stayed seated and kept watching him from her booth near the exit.

Out on the dance floor, one of the girls was straddling his thigh, rubbing the top of her own thigh up hard against his cock. He could feel right away that she wasn't wearing any panties under that tiny, barely-there skirt, and he smirked down at her as she used the pounding beat of the music to spread her legs wider and grind down on him harder, her skirt riding up in the dark until he could feel with his hands that anyone who looked would see her fucking her naked pussy down on his leg. But he didn't look, he only wanted to feel, his alien senses so sharp that he didn't even have to wonder if she was shaved; he only cared that she was wet and ready and she wanted him, and it made him so ragingly hard that he growled when she snaked one hand down and curled her fingers around his cock through the denim of his jeans, gasping with a drunken giggle at the hot width of him thrusting into the tight grip of her hand. _God yeah, right there… just a little more,_ he thought, and he grabbed handfuls of her bare ass and yanked her against his groin harder, trapping her hand between them and grunting at the extra pressure it gave him, desperate for release, his body burning for it after the torture of need he'd been going through since he woke up and kissed her this morning…

_Liz_.

Her face flashed into his mind again, how she'd looked the other night while he was fucking her. Perfect, so perfect. The way she looked, the way she smelled… _fuck_, the way she moved, eager and hungry just for him. She was everything he'd ever wanted.

But he couldn't have her right now and it was about to break him. All he wanted was for this tension in his pants to go away so he could go back to her and be around her without trying to fuck her every five minutes. And it only made things worse that she wanted him as badly; he could _feel_ that in her. The fact that she was attacked last night seemed not to faze her when it came to him touching her. Which was as odd as it was a boost to his already inflated ego.

The girl's hand squeezing his crotch suddenly snapped him out of his thoughts. "No." His mind was stronger than his body.

He dropped the beer bottle to the floor and used both hands to push her away by her shoulders. She looked at him, confused by his sudden change in attitude.

"No," he bit out. "I can't do this." And he easily pushed the other girls off him, shoved his way through the crowd and headed for the exit. _I gotta get out of here. Now._

Because none of these women, these humans, felt like Liz, none of them looked like her or smelled like her or… looked at him the way she did. None of them wanted him – all of him – the way she did.

Chloe watched him stalk past her booth, not even seeing her sitting there, and she couldn't get over how frickin' _huge_ he was; he seemed bigger and broader and… Jesus, he looked dangerous. She could tell he was worked up about something, and that, more than how he looked, made her slip out from behind her table and follow him out of the club.

Once outside the cool night air helped to clear Kal's head, but it did nothing to take away the raw lust he could still feel seething at the base of his cock, wrenching his thoughts back to the fullness of Liz's breasts, the way they moved when he fucked her so hard that she screamed in pleasure because it felt so good when he slammed into her; the way she'd wrapped her legs around his waist and tried to force him deeper, the silk of her thighs so _good_ that he could have come just from feeling that pull. He squeezed his eyes shut as he walked, and he couldn't believe he'd actually walked away from that situation in the club before things got even more out of hand. Because right now all he wanted was a hot, hard, sweaty fuck. It would help him forget, he _needed_ her… _What in the hell has she done to me?_ he thought.

_Oh, come on. You know what she's done,_ Clark told him. _She's the one for us, so stop wasting your time looking for someone else, because she's the one and you know it. _Kal absolutely hated that Clark had this ability to pop into his mind at will.

_Yeah, I know, _he thought back._ I just want her so much that I might wind up hurting her more than she already is. _

Clark felt a small sense of victory, of hope, that his own compassion was coming through, even with the hot scald of red kryptonite wrapped around his finger, enslaving him. _Well you could always take the ring off for a while_, Clark said._ You know I'm gentler then you. I wouldn't hurt her, not like you would._

Kal almost snarled at him, _Nice try, but not gonna happen, you prick. She's mine, not yours._

_She's ours. _

"Shut _UP!_ I'm done talking to you!" Kal cut Clark off, his voice roaring out as he made his way down the sidewalk toward his apartment.

Chloe was close enough behind him to hear and wondered who the hell he was talking to. Was he on something?

The thought of her Clark doing drugs actually made her heart seize up in fear and worry.

He got as far as the diner when his stomach growled as he walked past it, so he turned back and

headed inside for a very late dinner. Chloe stopped in the shadows a little ways back, determined to wait for him to come back out.

"Geez, Rosie. You still here?" he asked as he sat down at the counter.

"Hey, hon. Yeah, Jackie called out so I had to work a double. What can I get ya?"

"Mmm. Cheeseburger with everything, fries and a coke."

"Nothing to take home?"

He caught her cutting her eyes up at him as she snuck that question in. He smiled his lopsided

grin and thought of Liz. "Yeah, you're right. Double that order, but make the one to go with ketchup and ranch dressing only."

"Coming right up, sweetie." And she practically danced toward the back, clearly on a mission.

_Ketchup and ranch? Where in the hell did that come from? _Kal thought to himself as he stared down at his hands. _The hands that had just been groping some other girl's ass. _

Shame swept through his body. Then anger at the shame. _Ugh... get out of my fucking head, Kent._

Chloe couldn't believe her ears. She had heard the friendly conversation between the two of them through the open windows, and here was someone else that Clark seemed to be friends with. Everyone in Smallville was worried sick about him, and he'd just moved on like it was no big deal that he'd left his family and his friends behind without a word in three weeks.

She watched Clark eat and talk with the plump lady behind the counter. Then she saw him pull out a wad of money from his wallet and lay a hundred-dollar bill down by his plate before picking up his to go order and heading for the door.

"Where in the hell did he get all that money?" She whispered to herself as she ducked out of sight.

She fell in a good distance behind him, followed him down the street to a nice looking apartment building. Staying to the shadows, she watched him take the glass elevator to the top floor.

Kal entered his apartment silently after x-raying the door and seeing Liz asleep in his bed. He set the bag of food on the counter, and then headed for the bathroom for another cold shower.

"Hey baby, is that you?" Liz whispered into the dark.

"Yeah. I'm gonna take a quick shower. I'll be right back." He didn't go to her and kiss her like he wanted to, afraid she might smell the other girls on him.

"What's that smell?" she sleepily asked him, and he froze.

"What smell?" _Shit_, could she read his mind? And he could swear he heard Clark cracking up somewhere. Bastard.

"Do I smell a cheeseburger?"

"Oh. Yeah, I brought you some food. It's on the counter. I'll bring it to you in a minute." And he escaped into the bathroom before she could reply, stripping out of his clothes in super speed and then scrubbing himself viciously under the cold water beating down out of the shower head.

Liz, too hungry to wait for him to get done, sleepily got out of bed, steadying herself against the side of the mattress as she stood up, still dizzy from the medication. She headed toward the counter, "Food. Need food," she giggled, and flipped the light switch on, pulled the wrapped burger out of the bag and brought it to her nose to inhale the aroma. "Mmm, I'm starving..."

She dropped down into the nearest chair and dug into her midnight snack, and had just taken her first bite. _Mmm… ketchup and ranch; my favorite. _She blinked and stopped chewing, stared into the empty air. _How the hell had he known she even ate this… _

She heard the knob on the apartment door turn behind her and it was enough to startle her into forgetting the thought. She whipped her head around and saw a blonde girl peering through the crack in the open door. "Uh... can I help you?" Liz demanded, incredulous and annoyed. She set her burger down and stood on wobbly legs to confront the intruder.

"Oh. Hi...um, yeah. I was just looking for a friend," the blonde stammered.  
"I… uh… thought I saw him come up here." Chloe stepped just inside the apartment as she spoke, staring at the tiny woman who was wearing _nothing but Clark Kent's t-shirt?_

"Wait right there." Liz pointed to the spot Chloe was standing in, then turned and balanced her hand against the wall to stay upright. Moving as fast as she could, she headed to the bathroom, opened the door without knocking, and walked in.

Chloe narrowed her eyes to keep from passing out. Because Clark was in that shower, she just _knew_ he was.

"Kal? Somebody's at the door," Liz whispered loudly near the shower door.

He had just tried to relieve his tension by jerking off, but he was still hard as marble and Liz's voice made him hiss in his breath and hold it for a second. _God…_ "You didn't open it, did you?" he asked as he opened the shower door and yanked on his black silk robe.

"She just opened it herself." Liz shrugged her shoulders and stepped back out of Kal's way as he stomped past her.

"She?" He muttered to himself as he yanked the door open. Coming around the corner, he was surprised to see Chloe standing there with a determined look on her face.

"Well, well, well," he drawled. "Chloe Sullivan." His smile disappeared in a split instant, right along with his friendly attitude. "Why are you here?" He placed his hands on his hips, unembarrassed to be seen by her like this, half naked and soaking wet. He knew she wanted him, had always wanted him. And he could have had her, too, on more then one occasion… if only she was the one he really wanted.

"Looking for you!" she shouted, shocked at his belligerent tone. "Everyone back home is worried sick about you and you're what... playing house? With... her?" She pointed at Liz, who had appeared silently next to him.

"Shut up!" He stormed toward her and grabbed her by her upper arms, forcing her backward out the door. He didn't stop until she was pushed up against the elevator doors. "Who else knows I'm here!" He was right in her face shouting.

"No one, I swear." Chloe was shocked and scared by this aggressive Clark.

"How'd you find me?" He growled in her face.

"At the club... some friends snuck me in."

She was getting pissed now at all this pushing around and yelling. She should be the one angry, not Clark. He was the one who had run away, he had no _right_. She shoved him back with all her strength and he let her push him so she wouldn't break her hands. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she furiously screamed.

He chuckled low, releasing his hold on her and crossing his arms over his chest. "Ah Chloe... always asking questions. Good to see you haven't changed."

"Well _you_ certainly have. What's with you, anyway? You're acting all confident and sexy. It's weird."

"What's wrong, Chloe? Don't like it when I don't let you push me around?"

"No. I like _my_ Clark much better." She pulled herself up as tall as she could and held her chin high, trying to appear as imposing as possible.

"Well he's gone, so get over it and go home."

"You seriously want me to just leave and not tell anyone that I saw you?" She almost screeched.

"Yes. That's exactly what I want." He nodded his head and gave her a sexy grin.

"Why should I?" She mimicked his stance.

"Cause you're my best friend, Chloe." He reached out and delicately grasped a few strands of her platinum hair between his thumb and pointer finger nodding his head. "Nice. Come on. Pete would do it for me."

Well he had her there; Pete would definitely cover for him. _God I love when he touches my hair. _

"Fine. On one condition."

"And that would be?"

"Tell me who that girl is and how she got all bruised up."

"Her name is Liz, and she got attacked in a dark alley. Are we done yet?"

"Oh, my God. Is she okay?"

Kal rolled his eyes and grit his teeth. "She will be. Maybe you'd like to go ask her some really personal questions and take some pictures. Hell, she might even show you her stab wound if you ask nicely." And he was getting sick and tired of Chloe and her damn questions.

"Jesus Christ, Clark . That's not funny."

"It's the truth," he almost yelled. "I wasn't trying to be funny. You're always sticking your nose where it doesn't belong – in _my_ _life_ – and I'm sick of it!"

"I'm a reporter. That's what we do."

"Well your _job_ sucks."

"Yeah, well, so does your attitude." She came up onto her tippy toes, trying to get in his face.

"We're done now." Kal growled. "It's time for you to run along home. Be careful of the dark alleys."

"Fine, I'm going. But please reconsider, Clark ," she said softly. "Everyone misses you, especially Lana."

He shut his eyes at the sound of her name, and let out a sigh. "She made her choice and I made mine. Now for the last time, _drop _it. Just leave and don't come back." He reached over and pressed the call button for the elevator.

"I won't tell anyone, I promise," Chloe whispered, and she searched his eyes for any sign of the old Clark but found none. The elevator doors opened behind her, he took her hand and gently pushed her back into it.

"Thanks, Chloe."

_There_ it was. It happened so fast that she would have missed it if she hadn't been paying attention. Just as the doors were closing he flashed her the famous Clark Kent smile, the one that she'd always joked made him look like a toothpaste ad, and she knew he was in there somewhere.

Liz had shut the door after Kal pushed Chloe onto the landing, all the yelling too much for her to take right now. She sat at the counter and tried her best not to eavesdrop on them while she ate. But naturally, she was curious who this girl was and how they knew each other. She didn't hear much, though; just him wanting to know how she'd found him. _So he's a runaway, too, _she thought, and this Chloe wanted to know why he was acting so weird.

A few minutes later Kal stepped back inside, leaning his head back on the door after closing it, letting his eyes fall shut. Liz sat silently chewing her food and not even looking at him. "She's just an old friend," he said quietly into the almost-dark.

"I didn't ask, and you don't have to tell me. You don't owe me anything." Liz took her last bite of food then stood and headed back toward the bed.

"Don't do that to me." He was suddenly in front of her, his big hands on her shoulders.

"Do what?"

"Shut me out. I'm _actually_ trying to explain and you… you can just walk away?"

She looked up at him. "That wasn't my intention. I'm sorry, baby." Her hand came up to his

cheek and she pushed up onto her tippy toes, just like Chloe had. But this wasn't Chloe, Kal thought, so glad that it made him ache with it when Liz's mouth met his and she told him softly,

"I just figured it was a sore subject that was better left alone."

"Well, it is. But I just don't want you to think there was anything between us."

"Kal I don't care who you've been with in your past, and I don't even have a right to care now, after all you've done to help me. Not that I don't _care_, because I do…" And oh God, she loved him. So much, and there was absolutely no way she could ever tell him that. It would hurt her like nothing in her past ever had to hear him laugh it off… "I… I just know we don't have any kind of a commitment; hell we just met two days ago."

And this was what every guy had ever wanted to hear, Kal thought. She was totally letting him off the hook and practically telling him it was okay to have sex with other girls because the two of them weren't in a 'committed' relationship.

He should have been relieved but he wasn't, she wasn't even a little bit jealous and it pissed him off. "Well consider yourself committed," he ground out in an _awful_ voice. "I want you and only you. And if you think I'm ever letting another guy put his hands on you, you're crazy."

His tongue swept into her mouth, demanding and hot, hard, and she moaned helplessly, happy to give him what he wanted. His hands slid down her back and cupped her ass, lifting her off the floor as he pulled her to him, just like back in that damned club only this was so much better and sexier and _hotter_, because it was Liz pushing against him, Liz's body he could feel softening and beginning to shake with need just for him. And again, his senses told him exactly how wet she was, how tight and hot and greedy she'd be when he held her open and fucked her. _God_, he couldn't wait anymore… He gave a twisting thrust up against her pelvis, holding her hips in his hands so easily and at the same time pulling her down, grinding already against her pussy through two thin layers of silk and knit-cotton. She cried out in pleasure and he turned with her, holding her pressed tightly to his leaking cock as he carried her the few steps to the bed.

She should be pissed that he'd just told her she was his. He hadn't even bothered to ask her if she wanted to be his girlfriend, he'd just laid down the law and expected her to obey him. But she knew deep down that she had been his the moment they'd met. And now she knew he felt the same way so there was no point in arguing about it.

He laid her down gently on top of the bed, mindful of her stitches but his kisses steadily growing in intensity, his mouth wide open and slick as he licked up the inside of her thigh just to hear her cry out again and just to watch her legs fall open.

"Mmmm, so fucking hot for me," he breathed, pushing her legs apart and bracing himself on his forearms, holding his body inches above hers and only letting the tip of his hard cock brush against her inner thigh. He knew he was leaving a wet trail of pre-come on her skin and he reached down with one hand to swipe his fingers through it. He'd been about to rub it into her nipple, wanting to know how he'd taste when he sucked it off, but Liz had something else in mind; she grabbed for his hand with both of hers, opened her mouth and shoved two of his fingers in; sucking, hot licks to get all of him she could find and planting her feet for leverage, thrusting her pussy up to rub it against his cock.

"Oh my _God_," Kal groaned, feeling the length of his dick sliding up and down her warm, wet slit, no panties, _nothing_ to keep him from her as he twisted his other hand into the sheets beside of her head and tried to keep his hips from thrusting. He panted heavily against her neck, hearing her still sucking and licking his fingers lustily. "God, Liz, I need you… fuck I need you _now_, and I don't think I can stop myself this time."

She let his fingers slide out of her mouth and her small hands gripped his hips. "It's okay, baby, I need you too," she whispered, watching his sculpted chest as he moved harder, opening her mouth to suck and bite softly at his nipple when he came close enough for her to reach him. Her hands came up to loosen the knot in the tie of his robe, and she loved the way his huge cock hung out of it in the front, dark and heavy and making her mouth water but she wanted to feel him all over her, all of his hot skin against hers and she clawed at the silk until she got it off of his chest and shoulders and then she let her left hand trail down his stomach to his cock, running her fingertips lightly from the base to the tip.

He gasped and his cock jerked hard, drooling pre-come all over her and he couldn't not touch her anymore. He brought one of his hands down to her thigh and wrapped it around his hip. He repeated the same with her other thigh then settled back down in between her legs, letting his cock brush up against her clit and deliberately spreading his pre-come all over her already wet entrance.

"Please Kal, please."

"Get your knees up," he whispered, helping her hook her hands behind the bends of her knees, showing her how wide he wanted them. "Yeah," he murmured, leaning down to lick her slit, pushing his tongue into her pussy just once before he licked up again, tasting himself on her clit.

"Mmmm, yeah."

He trailed his index finger maddeningly slow from her hip bone to her clit, teasing it with light, slippery touches, but her eyes were on the slick coating all around his mouth from where he'd just licked her and she moaned and bucked beneath him, begging him for more, licking her lips like she wanted what she could see shining on his mouth.

He looked up her body, from her hands holding her own thighs wide open for him, to her breasts heaving with her desperate breath, and up to her face, locking eyes with her as he dipped his fingers into her hot, wet center. "God. You're so _wet_." It came out rough in between gasps of air, and she knew he was struggling with his body to go slow and be gentle.

"You want my mouth? Or this?" he asked, pushing two fingers in as far as they'd go, fucking her in deep, slow strokes. She tried to bear down on him and he curled his fingers up toward her G spot, did it again and again, every time he pulled out. She began to moan with every thrust of his hand, her thighs shuddering as she lifted up off the bed to meet him with every stroke. His thumb rubbed over her clit, slow and hard until she began to lose her breath, gasping and bucking and still obeying him with her hands pulling her thighs wide, when he asked her, "Are you gonna come for me?" And his thumb pushed a little more firmly, slipping faster as he finger-fucked her even deeper. "Are you?" Her head went back on the pillow and she screamed as her orgasm started. With the first tight convulsion of her pussy Kal leaned down and thrust his tongue inside her alongside his fingers, licking deep and sucking, moaning when she let go of her knees and grabbed wildly at the silk sheets at her sides and fucked up against his mouth. "Oh God... yes! Kal... fuck me!"

He hadn't forgotten what she'd wanted seconds ago, when he'd licked her the first time and she'd stared up at his mouth like she wanted to lick her own come from his lips, so as he thrust his fingers in and out, harder and faster, his thumb stroking wildly over her clit, he rose up and buried his slick mouth in hers, licking in and feeling her scream into his mouth as she came so hard that she arched up completely off the bed, nothing except her feet and the back of her head touching the sheet beneath her.

He was relentless, fingering her all the way through it, his eyes rolling back at the sensation of her pussy tightening in wild spasms around his fingers and wishing it were his cock inside her instead, wondering if he could die like this. When her body finally released its hold on his fingers, he slipped them out and listened as she gasped and cried at the loss.

His hand was soaked with her, and he brought it up and wrapped it around his cock, hissing at the wet grip on his bruising- hot flesh and jacking himself very slowly, waiting for her to be ready because something wouldn't let him be brutal enough to just slam into her if she couldn't take him yet. She'd been hurt, God, _stabbed_, and…

"More… I need more, please," she was begging him and she knew it but she couldn't stop herself. Her body craved every touch he gave her and she was afraid he would keep holding back unless she begged him for it.

Reaching up, she grabbed the silk robe that still clung to his shoulders and pulled him to her. She kissed every inch of him she could reach, finally finding his lips. He growled low in his throat as her tongue lapped against his mouth, searching for any trace of the taste of herself there and finding nothing but the male taste of _him_, loving it and needing it.

But he was still holding himself away, gripping his cock hard in his hand and his eyes clenched shut, only allowing the head of his cock to touch her. He pulsed as she watched, leaking a steady stream of pre-come every time his dick touched her swollen clit. She pulled him closer and spoke softly against his ear, "Please, Kal. I need you… _please_ fuck me now. Fuck me hard."

He nuzzled her neck and sucked on the sensitive skin, causing her to gasp for another breath. "What if… I hurt you?"

"You won't, please… don't you want me, too?"

He groaned loudly against her neck, squeezing his cock harder. "God, yes… I just don't want… your stitches to… tear."

They were both struggling for air and control and her body was straining up toward his, trying to draw him inside while he was willing himself with all of his strength not to thrust into her.

"I'll tell you if it hurts, I promise... but this... you're killing me… _please_."

And that was it; he couldn't hold back any longer. He placed a hand on her hip to steady her writhing body, and with the rest of his weight balanced on his other forearm he captured her lips with his own as his cock slid into her aching pussy. It was the most incredible feeling she'd ever known. She was so wet and her entire body pulsed around him as another orgasm tore through her. He could have come right then and there but he forced himself to go slow and wait for it. Once he was buried completely inside her he broke the kiss and searched her eyes for any sign of pain but found none.

"More..." Her eyes slid shut and her hands ran frantically over his back and chest trying to bring him closer. In one swift move Kal raised up and discarded his robe, then his hands came to the hem of her t-shirt. "Needtotouchyou_now,_" he said, his teeth clenched tight and then the shirt was torn in half, from the hem to the neck in the blink of an eye. His lips found one of her breasts and he sucked her nipple into his mouth as his hips drove deeper into her. One of his hands slid around to her lower back and he lifted her off the bed so he could slide in even further. She desperately tried to suppress a whimper when his fingers grazed over the bruise on her back but it escaped anyway.

His lips released her nipple and his tried to stop his hips from moving. "You okay?" he whispered, his wet lips still hovering above her nipple.

"Yeah... I'm... fine." Tears of frustration welled in her eyes as she gasped for breath.

He couldn't stop thrusting. God, he just couldn't do it, he needed her too much to stop, but he made her answer him. "Tell me...where it hurts?"

"The bruise on... my back...you pushed on it a little...too hard. But I'm fine...don't stop please."

Kal moved his hands farther down to grasp her ass. "Better?"

"Yeah… Mmmm, yes."

His lips closed over her nipple again, sucking and licking like he couldn't get enough, and Liz gasped at the power of his movements, grunted sexily when she felt his heavy balls smack against her ass with every ramming thrust. Her right hand came up to his hair and her fingers grabbed hold while her left hand slid down his body to his ass, digging her fingernails into his flesh with enough force that anyone else would be bleeding right now, trying to pull him even closer.

But the sensation of it still was a delicious shock to him, just enough of her desperation for him coming through the sharp, frantic clasp of her nails on his skin. "Ah...shit, Liz I can't... hold out much longer..." He raised his body back up over hers as his hips drove harder and deeper into her.

"Then don't," she panted out as yet another wave of orgasm washed over her, pulling him with her. "Oh God...fuck..yeah..Liz..baby..I'm coming...ahhh...!"

He was totally spent, but he managed to keep his body propped up on his forearms so he didn't crush her. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and inhaled her scent, letting it finally calm him. That and her fingertips tracing light circular patterns on his back while she waited for him to come to.

"Ah... damn, baby. You have no idea how much I needed that." Kal kissed the side of her neck and down her shoulder over the scar.

Finally he pushed himself up and off of her. "Sorry, I guess you'd like to breathe, right?"

"Don't go, breathing's overrated," she whispered shakily, tightening her hold around his back.

"I'm not going anywhere, I promise," he whispered softly before kissing her lips and then rolling on to his side. "Whoops, looks like you need another one of my shirts."

"Yeah. Somebody tore this one," she said, and brought the two edges of the t-shirt together to cover her bruise riddled body.

"It's okay, I've already seen them, you know." Kal pulled her hand away from her shirt and brought it to his lips.

"I know. I'd just rather not be reminded, that's all."

"Okay, but just remember I know what you look like under those bruises and I think you're beautiful."

Tears sprang into her eyes and she bit her bottom lip, then nodded her head in agreement.

"It's late; we should try to get some sleep."

"Okay," she replied, yawning and curling up. Kal reached down and pulled the covers over them, then pulled her close to him, bending one of his legs and bringing it up to cover both of hers.

It was just getting light out when Kal awoke to Liz talking in her sleep and pushing at the arm he'd draped over her. "No! Please, Larry no...MOM!" She was screaming now but still asleep, frantically pushing and kicking at Kal.

"Liz, wake up! Come on, wake up!" He kept his arm and leg across her, afraid she might just fling herself out of the bed before she woke up. "Liz!"

Her eyes snapped open and darted around the room as she tried to get her bearings. She shut them again, too embarrassed to look at Kal after she realized where she was and what had happened. "It happened again didn't it?" she whispered, bringing the back of her hand to her forehead to wipe the sweat away.

"Yeah. You okay?" He spoke softly into her ear then lightly kissed her cheek.

"I'll be fine. I just need to catch my breath."

"You might stop dreaming about it if you'd talk about it."

With her eyes still shut she rolled onto her side away from him. "You're probably right but I just don't think I can."

Kal slid up behind her, spooning her, one arm pulling her back up against his chest. "Hey, you need to deal with this sooner or later. You wanna start by telling me who this Larry guy is?" He spoke firmly but gently into her ear.

"Yeah, well. The same goes for you too then, Mister... I've got plenty of things I can't talk about either."

"Okay, fine. You wanna do this, we can. We can get everything out in the open. We'll take turns, but I'll tell you right now, you're not gonna like all the answers you get," he warned her, becoming agitated, and he sat up, pulling her up with him as he turned her to face him on the bed.

But a searing-hot pain sliced into him when he moved. "Shit, not now...AHHH!!!" His symbol burned bright orange and red, scalding his chest, and he fell backwards on the bed, writhing and screaming in pain. "OFF... GET IT OFF!!"

"Kal? Baby the ring… Give me your hand!" Liz was desperately trying to grab his hand as it swung heavily about. Finally she caught it as his back arched and he released another strangled cry. Slipping the ring off his finger, she threw it across the room.

And just like last time, the burning stopped immediately.

Clark lay on the bed with his eyes closed as he tried to get his breathing back to normal. Laying his forearm over his eyes to hide his face he asked her in a meek voice. "I didn't burn you again did I?"

"No, baby. I'm fine. Are you okay?"

He nodded his head yes in response but didn't answer her. He was on the verge of tears and didn't want to break down in front of her yet again.

Liz scooted close to Clark and gently lifted his arm away from his face. He kept his eyes closed, unable to look at her yet. But she gripped his hand and spoke in a whisper. "Larry's my mom's boyfriend. He raped me a few years ago."

Clark 's eyes popped open and he sat up, pulled her over onto his lap. "I'm so sorry, Liz." And he _was_ crying now, silent and aching for her, because Kal was muffled into a deep, angry knot in his stomach with the ring so far away, and his mind and his emotions were full of Clark .

"It's not your fault," Liz whispered. "I had pushed it to the back of my mind for a long time, but after what happened with Billy it all came flooding back." Tears flowed freely down her cheeks, dropping onto his bare chest. He rocked her back and forth, running his fingers up and down her back for a long time until she finally spoke again. "It's your turn now, ya know."

"Fair enough," he said very quietly. "What do you want to know?" But his eyes were cutting around the room, scanning the floor a little frantically for his ring, because he'd begged Kal to take it off but now that he couldn't feel it he was terrified.

"The ring. What does it do to you?"

Clark sighed. Of course she was going to ask about the ring. "It...uh...it's kinda like a drug for me. When I put it on it makes me feel better." _God_, it did.

Liz sat up, searching his eyes and seeing that he was telling her the truth. "So if I were to put it on it would make me feel better?"

"No, it doesn't work like that. It only affects me."

"If it makes you feel better, then why does it burn you?"

"That's not the ring, that's something else trying to control me."

"Control you to do what?"

"I don't know yet. Your turn. How'd you get that scar?"

Liz laid her head back on Clark's chest before she answered in a shaky voice. "Uh...it happened while I was trying to fight Larry off. We were in the kitchen, I was boiling a pot of water and I pulled it down on us in the struggle. What about you? How'd you get yours?" She sat up a little and ran her fingers over his raised flesh.

"That… uh thing that's trying to control me put it there."

"Did it make you leave home?"

His heart cried out in his chest at the word 'home'. "Yeah. How'd you know that?" Clark pulled Liz back to look in her eyes.

"You were talking in your sleep the other night and you said something like 'No, you can't make me leave them."

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks once again for reading, and to those that reviewed!

Chapter 7

He closed his eyes and shuddered at the memory. Oh God, the look in his father's eyes at the hospital; he'd looked at him like he was... an alien. A _thing_ who had hurt them and destroyed the child who would have really been theirs, the one who would fill the gap in their lives that he himself had ultimately been too inhuman and destructive to deserve.

That was it. Clark had reached his limit. Five minutes without the ring on and he thought he might pass out from the pain.

"The ring, where is it?" he whispered to Liz, his head bent down and his eyes closed, breathing like he'd just been trapped too long underwater. He hated that he wanted and needed it so much. Kal was such a jackass, but this pain in his heart just wouldn't go away. It was _breaking_ him...

"I think it's by the bathroom," Liz sniffed.

Clark got out of bed on trembling legs and padded toward the bathroom, his green eyes darting in every direction along the floor. The lust for the red kryptonite's effect made his breath begin to hitch and his eyes blinked in and out of x-ray vision, searching hungrily now, and his avid gaze finally collided with the ring lying just beneath the tall glass bookcase. Once he was within a few feet of it, the burn began to crawl through him, starting at his toes and moving steadily upward the closer he got to it.

He let out a sigh of relief as he knelt and picked it up. Its red gleam came alive and reflected in his dark green eyes until they flashed a delicious, furious red and he slid the ring onto his finger, sighing almost lustfully. His lip curled up in a predatory smile as he rose, turning back toward the bed… totally nude, and rock-hard all over. Everything… his massive shoulders, his heaving chest, his rippling abs, _his pulsing cock... _

Liz watched, wide-eyed and slack-jawed as his eyes slid shut and he inhaled her scent deeply from across the room. Through the tinge of fear that had begun to quiver through her, she whimpered under her breath at feeling herself growing slick, wetter by the second as she listened to him breathe her in. A hungry ache flared to life deep inside her and she thought wildly that she just might come from watching him as his eyes slowly opened and locked onto her.

Kal stalked silently across the room and crawled up the bed toward her, fisting handfuls of the sheet and tugging it down her body to fling it behind him, watching her pussy and thighs come into view. He could smell how wet she was, he could smell _himself_ all over her, and his cock gave a long, vicious throb of hunger as he kept crawling.

Her hips pulsed upward as the sheet slid away and her legs parted for him, her breath coming in whimpers. He remembered what she had told Clark, and he knew it probably wasn't the best idea to look at her like she was a baby gazelle separated form its mother and he was a hungry lion. But he just couldn't help himself. He wanted her to feel what he felt...the delicious high of Red-K, an overwhelming ecstasy that held him tightly in its grip, bliss that would feed him forever if he let it. This was the only way he knew to ease her pain. Just like it had eased his.

It was running, what he was doing. He knew that, but he couldn't stand the hurting; it was too much. And so like everything else he didn't want to deal with he shoved it to the back of his head. With Clark .

"I think the Q and A portion of this game is over for now, don't you?" he breathed hotly into her ear as he sucked her lobe between his teeth. Biting ever so lightly, causing a hot tingle to run down her body.

"_Mmm...nu..ahh" _was the only response she was capable of as her body sank down to the bed and his hands slipped the shredded remnants of his shirt off her shoulders. She finally came to rest on her left side and Kal followed her down, his teeth never releasing her earlobe. His hands were planted firmly to the mattress on either side of her head and he straddled her, grinding his massive erection into the side of her hip and thigh at a maddeningly slow pace. He kissed and sucked his way to the back of her neck as she submissively rolled onto her stomach, arching her neck for more of his hot mouth.

"God, you smell _so good_...I don't know what it is..." he whispered into her back as his scorching kisses moved lower, between her shoulder blades, licking down her spine. Her body strained and quivered upward toward his, grinding her ass into his cock while he lowered his hips down hard until her she lay trapped beneath him.

He laced the fingers on his left hand through hers and brought her hand down toward her pussy, lifting his hip just enough to slide them between the mattress and her sweat-slicked skin. With his index finger guiding hers, he dipped their fingers together into her slick heat, pushing deeply in and then out, in a little harder, listening to the wet slide as they moved.

"Mmmm," he murmured, his voice vibrating all over her as his tongue pushed into her ear and he breathed, "You want to get fucked, don't you." More of a statement than a question, taunting her into bucking down hard onto their fingers, trying to spread her legs open for more. He used his legs to push her wet thighs apart beneath him, leaning up just slightly and using his other hand to reach down between her legs from behind, rubbing the remnants of his own come into the soft skin around their fingers where they thrust in and out of her, slicking more down her thighs. Liz moaned and felt him force their fingers deeper, harder, felt herself losing control of her body's responses to him.

He drew their bundled fingers back out of her, quickly found her clit and began rubbing it slowly. "Tell me," he growled, keeping relentless control of the pace and pressure. "You want me to fuck you; _tell me_." His cock slipped against her ass as he pressed his hips down to hold her in place, his body heavy and hot on top of hers.

Liz's throat was closed tight with need and tears, but she gasped finally and whispered, "God. Mmmm, yes, _God_…" and suddenly, just begging him for it, hearing her own desperation and feeling him dominate her body's response made her blood begin to rush hard, pulling her under into the white heat of orgasm.

Kal felt it in her and suddenly pulled her hand away. "Not yet," he growled, and demanded, "Wait…" flicking his fingertips once up and down her wet slit. "Wait."

She gasped and let out a desperate, needy grunt at being denied as she tried to obey and hold back the sensations building deep within her womb.

"I want you to burn this feeling into your brain." He spoke roughly in her ear again, and she could feel the rigid heat of his cock still thrusting in the same slow, relentless rhythm against her ass, slicking her flesh with his pre-come. "I could make you feel this," he whispered darkly, "... with just a look... or a word... Would you... like that?" he asked softly into the back of her neck.

She tried to scream, _"God! Yes, GOD! KAL!!!" _but all she could manage was another high, desperate whimper into the mattress beneath her face, her voice muffled with her struggle as she thrust back against his cock, dying for him to fuck her…

"Don't come yet!" he cried, and his teeth bit down on her right shoulder, sinking in as he held her still like an animal taming its mate into submission.

But her body was pulsing all on its own, need for him a constant, never ending throb of lust and want that rushed through her and she dragged her finger toward her clit, just needing to touch, _fuck_, she was so wet; she didn't just want him to fuck her, she _needed_ it now, and she screamed and shook as he held her hand away, just out of reach of her pussy. She writhed back, whimpering and begging and humping because she couldn't hold it back anymore, she had to come... "Please, Kal," she whined, out of breath and gasping. "Fuck me… do it hard, please… please, please!"

"Yeah," he breathed, his voice rumbling in his chest and his cock spurting. "Give it to me." His breath scalded the tiny hairs at the back of her neck as he pushed her finger onto her clit and began smearing it in tight, tight circles, faster than humanly possible.

"_NU...AHH!!! _She went wild beneath him, gasped for air like she was drowning, screaming with every exhale and feeling her body beginning to come apart. _"_Fuck!!! Kal!!! Fuck!!! Me!!" And it wasn't enough, she needed more… she needed _him_, but she couldn't do anything but scream for him and Kal watched her face, watched her lose her breath and begin sucking the sheet into her mouth with every buck of her hips.

"Don't pass out just yet…_breathe_" he grunted, and he dragged her back on the bed, pulling her up onto her knees. With one drenched, hard push, his burning cock sank into her, so deep that she couldn't feel anything but him, splaying her open completely.

_"Ahh... Liz!" _He cried out, his cock throbbing hot, literally burning with the influence of the Red-K in his veins. His fingers dug into her waist as he pulled her back to lay draped against him and forced his body to wait. Just like he'd made her wait, so it would be that much better.

Liz was incoherent, gasping and sobbing and fisting the sheet in her hands, and Kal knew he was prolonging her torment; he could feel her desire for him swelling to an unbearable pitch and God, he wanted that, needed it like he'd never needed anything else… he slid out with a slow, steady pull, feeling her body clenching, desperately trying to hold him in… "Yeah, you want me. You _want _me," he ground out, feeling _himself_ becoming the mindless one now, and his words turned into a begging plea as she gasped at the pain she could hear in his voice, and he began to raggedly thrust, hands clawing at her skin, "You want me, Liz.. you want me, I know you do…"

His desperation transformed itself into pure physical hunger and his body finally took over them both. He drove himself up and faster and harder in a ragged and violent rhythm, his hand shoved into her hair to hold her closer against his chest and his arm pulling her too tightly around the waist. Liz moved with him, utterly breathless, moaning his name and going stiff all over when orgasm broke over her.

Kal felt it, felt her body clutching his deep and tight, and he screamed for her, thinking frantically that he couldn't get close enough, mindless with the fear of letting this ever end. As she spasmed around him and her body seemed to conform to his like hot, melted silk, somewhere deep in his awareness he could hear a warning in his own voice, _Oh, God… be careful with her, you're hurting her!_ The need for her and the hot, searing rush of red kryptonite almost let him ignore it as he slammed in one final time, grabbing for her hips and pushing her down hard until he couldn't get any deeper inside her.

But he _had_ heard; Clark's voice, his need to protect, could not be ignored and Kal barely suppressed the raw, pure power in him that wanted to keep thrusting into her with all of his strength.

She was sobbing when his body erupted in hers, while his hands engulfed her hips and he shook so hard that the bed slammed against the wall. His orgasm was like nothing she'd ever felt in her life, so hot that it burned in her fingertips and made her limbs go slack, the heat of him flooding through her for so long that her body couldn't contain him, and she went numb, slid down until she hung limply in his arms and closed her eyes.

Pure black crawled up in front of Kal's vision, ecstasy better than red kryptonite and all he could comprehend as he emptied himself into her and the darkness took him was that he was wanted… Liz wanted him.

He fell like a dead weight onto his side, taking her with him, folding himself around her protectively.

They stayed that way for a full twenty-eight hours.

Kal awoke confused and lightheaded, his face buried in dark black hair... _Liz..._

He breathed deeply, soaking in her unique scent as he gently pulled her onto her back so that he could watch her sleep… His blood stopped cold in his veins and his breath hitched in the back of his throat when he saw her face.

It was gone... the angry black bruise on her eye... just gone.

One side of his mouth lifted in a half smile as his finger lightly traced her cheekbone. "Wow," he whispered, amazed at what he was seeing; this realization of his newfound ability.

Liz's eyes started to flutter open at his touch, her heartbeat growing stronger by the second.

"Hi," he said, barely above a whisper.

Her eyes lit up when she saw him, and she mouthed back, "Hi."

"I think we slept for a really long time." Kal yawned as he brought the heel of his hand up to sleepily rub his eyes.

"I think you're right. My arms are numb. But WOW, was it worth it." Grinning, she leaned up and sucked softly at his bottom lip.

"Mmm... was it ever," Kal replied before returning the kiss. His hand slid over the spot on her stomach where she used to have a large black and yellowish-brown bruise. When she didn't flinch, he stopped the movement and pushed down slightly. No sign of pain at all, unlike the last time he'd touched her there. He watched her eyes to see if she even realized that it should hurt. Finally, after a few long seconds, her eyes grew wide and she placed one of her hands over his.

"Holy... You did that. Didn't you?" Liz questioned as she looked down and let her eyes roam over her clear skin. There were no bruises anywhere. Not one.

"I didn't know I could..." Kal didn't meet her gaze. He just continued to look at her stomach, wondering if the wound beneath her bandage was healed as well and too stunned to even realize he could x-ray it and find out.

Tears welled in her eyes as Liz propped herself up on her elbows. Her fingers slid to one corner of the bandage, pulling it slowly away from her skin. They both stared in anticipation, neither noticing they were each holding their breath as she pulled the bandage off.

All that was left of the stab wound was a line of stitches around a raised scar that looked faded with several years of age.

"Hah..." she gasped. Her breath stuck in the back of her throat.

"Liz... I swear... I don't know how... I don't know how this happened." Kal stammered, and the stark fear of being looked at like that again..._like an alien,_ passed from Clark to him in an unstoppable wave.

"Hey... Kal. Look at me." Liz's eyes searched for his. Finally his gaze rose to meet hers, and he looked terrified. "Shhhh," she smiled up at him. "How doesn't matter. Okay? It doesn't."

Relief flooded him when he heard her tell him that it didn't matter. Because he believed with all that he had that to her, it really _didn't _matter. "Okay," he replied in a low voice, and he gripped her hip and caught her lips in a tender kiss.

They continued kissing, licking and groping and grasping at skin, and then Liz's stomach let out a loud rumble.

"Wow. Somebody's hungry," he laughed as he released her bottom lip with a pop.

"Only for you." she softly replied.

"Come on, let's take a shower, then we can go get something to eat." He stood up and stretched like a big cat after a long nap, tugging Liz to her feet along with him.

He unwrapped the bandages from her right hand to find it healed as well, with only a faint white line with stitches around it. Tracing the line with his finger he smiled at his handy work before sliding his fingers through hers and leading her toward the bathroom.

"Hey, I had a bag. Did it make it back with me?" Liz asked as she looked around the floor for it.

"Yeah. It's by the night stand." He turned and grabbed it for her.

"Thanks. My toothbrush is in there. Plus some clothes so I can actually go out in public."

"Hey, I thought you liked to wear my clothes?" Kal teased as they entered the bathroom.

"Oh, you know I do. I just can't leave the apartme..." Her sentence faded off unfinished as she saw her face in the mirror for the first time since the bruises had vanished.

"Wow." She gasped, bringing a hand up to her mouth. "That's… that's amazing..." Tears welled in her eyes as her fingertips grazed the skin where part of the ugly bruise had been. Kal left her standing in front of the mirror to start the shower.

"Hey, come here," he whispered, and then he gently tugged her away from the counter after the water temperature was just right for her.

They took their time washing one another's hair and slowly soaping their bodies. The steam from the shower kept them suspended in there own reality, where it seemed for just a little while like they were the only two people on earth.

Kal was usually always in control of his emotions; he never let anything past the surface he didn't want to. But this one… this was an emotion he'd never had before and he couldn't keep it in. He was happy, really happy, and not Red K happy, either. Regular happy. "I'm glad you're here with me," he whispered, and his eyes sparkled with a mixture of joy and mischievousness before he dipped his head to capture her lips with his. They stayed under the gentle rain shower kissing and caressing, touching gently and murmuring until the warm water started to run cold.

"Hey, I'd rather not turn into a pop sickle this time," Liz quietly laughed, and she pulled away from him as a slight shiver ran through her.

"Yeah." Kal shut off the water and then reached out for a large towel. He wrapped it around Liz then grabbed one for himself.

They brushed their teeth and Kal cut the stitches from Liz's hand and stomach with the pair of surgical scissors Toby had left behind with the extra gauze. Afterward, Liz pulled a pair of holy jeans and a black tee shirt from her bag while Kal pulled on a pair of brand new black jeans and a dark green tee shirt from his closet.

"I'm taking you shopping after we eat." he said with authority when he noticed state of Liz's jeans.

"Hey, I happen to love these jeans... Well, what's left of them." She mumbled as she laced up her boots.

"Babe. While I personally love them, they're hanging on by a thread. It's time for a new pair. Hell, it's time for a whole new wardrobe."

"Alright there, money bags. Whatever you say." Liz replied as she dug through her bag until she found her brush. She didn't want to need his money, but the reality was she was a runaway _girl_ and she couldn't just flat out turn down free clothes or... free _anything_ for that matter.

"So where are we going?" she asked on the elevator ride down to the ground level. Her hands snuck under Kal's tee shirt to run along the smooth skin just above the waist of his jeans. His eyes rolled back in his head when her fingers grazed through the patch of hair under his belly button.

"Back to the apartment if you keep that up." he whispered hoarsely as he slowly dragged her hands off his waist and turned toward the opening elevator doors. He cleared his throat and told her, "We can go anywhere you want." And he unconsciously tugged Liz closer to him in a protective way, shielding her from other pedestrians with his massive body.

"Wherever you got food from last time is fine with me." Liz replied as she quickened her stride to keep up with his long legs. They reached the end of the block and rounded the corner, and Kal headed toward the entrance to the diner when Liz suddenly hit the breaks.

"Ya know what? Let's go someplace else, okay?" She tugged on his arm with both of her hands as her heels dug into the concrete below her feet.

Kal looked down, confusion and then understanding crossing his face. "Did you dine and dash from here?" he asked, a knowing grin curling his mouth.

"Yeah. Like just the other day, so I'm sure they'll remember me. Please, let's just go somewhere else." Liz begged, still trying to move him out of the doorway.

Kal was momentarily distracted by the fact that Liz could move him without his consent. He pulled back against her and stopped her abruptly. _Interesting, _he thought.

"Hey. Chill out it'll be fine." The confidence in his voice calmed Liz's nerves.

"O-okay..." Her eyes darted around, looking for any sign of trouble and ready to bolt. Seeing none, Liz lowered her head and ducked behind him, hiding her face from the staff for as long as possible.

"No Way! Not Again! Oh, no you don't!" The cook, Randy, shouted from the kitchen, shaking his spatula at Liz.

"I told you, Kal! Please, can we just go?" Liz quietly begged.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"No. Nobody's going anywhere. Got it?" He stared Randy down while he answered Liz, and the cook flinched under his glittering gaze. Finally he lowered his spatula and nodded in agreement.

"Rosie," Kal said while handing a large wad of money over to her. "This should cover whatever Liz and any of her friends ever stole from here." Liz watched him hand her at least a thousand dollars and her face burned with shame.

"Now could we order?" he almost growled, but he was smiling. "I'm starving, and it feels like it's been days since I've eaten. By the way, what is today, Rosie?"

"It's Monday, sweetie. You must have been preoccupied, huh?" Rosie questioned him in a motherly tone.

"You don't seriously want me to answer that, right?" Kal threw her a playful glance as he slid onto his stool.

"If I was twenty years younger, you can bet your ass I'd want an answer," she shot back, yanking her pencil out from behind her ear with all the seriousness of a heart attack. "Now. What can I get you two?"

Kal was grinning so hard Liz could practically _hear_ it. "Mmm," he grunted. "I'm thinking two hot turkey sandwiches with gravy and mashed potatoes, and a Coke." And he glanced down at Liz, who was sitting on the edge of her seat with her head bent down, her eyes boring a hole into her lap.

"Liz? What do you want to eat, baby?" He nudged the side of her face with his nose as he spoke to her in a soft tone. When she didn't answer him, he said gently, "Hey. It's fine now. Rosie's not mad. Right, Rosie? And neither is Randy. Right, Randy?" Kal spoke loud enough for all three to hear him.

Rosie and Randy responded in unison. "Right," their heads nodding up and down as he stared at them, superiority flashing through his eyes as the humans bent to his will.

"Umm... same thing but just one order." Liz said in a small voice, her eyes flitting nervously around the room.

"Coming right up kids." Rosie stuck the ticket on the order wheel before moving off to tend to the other customers.

"Take a breath," Kal whispered in her ear, his eyes focusing on her once more. He felt her chest expand against his.

"Good," he murmured. "Oh, and by the way. I think it's totally hot that you've been such a bad little girl." He smiled against her soft locks while his breath brushed over her ear, making her shiver.

She couldn't help but smile at his words, even though they should have offended her. After all, she wasn't bad because she wanted to be. She stole to eat and survive, not because she liked it.

"Ha. You're the bad one. We could have just avoided this whole situation by going somewhere else. But no, you insisted, just looking for trouble." Liz rolled her eyes and looked away.

"Baby, I'm always looking for trouble. I like to keep myself entertained." He nuzzled her ear then moved down to her neck.

"Kal... be good." She warned, but her eyes were sliding shut as his full lips made contact with her skin.

He sucked a kiss against her throat. "This _is_ me being good," he murmured.

A few minutes later plates clattering loudly onto the countertop brought them crashing back to reality. "Order up!" Rosie announced rather loudly.

"Thanks..." Kal drawled as he pulled away from Liz and turned toward his plate.

Liz's face flushed dark red when Rosie winked at her as she walked away.

"Mmm... oh my God I had no idea how hungry I was." Kal muttered as he shoveled a fork full of food into his mouth.

Liz couldn't resist the delicious smell any longer either, so she dug in as well. Kal scarfed down two servings in the time it took her to eat one. Liz just gulped and stared at him wide-eyed as he pushed his second plate away. "What? Ya gonna finish that?" He asked with a pretend serious look on his face.

"I'll fight ya for it." she retorted, holding her fork at the ready.

"Oh no, not the dreaded fork again." Kal teased, and Liz finished her last bite of food.

"Feel better?" he asked as he rose from the stool pulling even more money from his pocket to leave on the counter.

"Well I'm not hungry for food anymore." She said as she stood, and he felt her hands reaching for his waist band.

A low rumble escaped Kal's throat as her fingertips made contact with his skin. Red flashed through his eyes as he grasped her hands gently but firmly and led her out of the diner and back onto the crowded sidewalk.

"Ok, so is there a clothing store _anywhere_ on this block that you haven't stolen from?" he asked with a smirk.

"You can be such an ass sometimes, ya know?" Liz crossed her arms and stopped in her tracks.

"Yeah, I know. Get over it." Kal turned to face her then kissed her forehead, smiling irresistibly at her when he pulled away.

"Just as long as you know." Liz said as she looked around trying to find a store on either side of the street that she wasn't banned form. Finally she spotted one across the road that she'd never been in before.

"That one, over there." He followed her gaze across the street then led the way to it.

"Good after..um..noon. Can I... help you two find anything?" The snooty older saleswoman asked as Kal and Liz entered the small shop. Neither missed the look of disdain on her face.

"Yeah. My girl needs some new clothes." Kal answered, returning her cold look.

"Well that's obvious, isn't it?" The sales lady replied with a laugh, looking down over the bridge of her glasses at Liz.

"Look, lady," Kal snarled. "I plan on spending a lot of money on clothes today, but it sure as hell won't be here if you keep up with the attitude."

Taken slightly aback by being put in her place the sales woman replied. "Hmm... Well. My apologies, sir. Miss, what size are you looking for?"

"Um, two I think." Liz answered quietly as she scanned the racks of clothing around her.

"Anything in particular, dear?" The sales lady asked in a fake sweet voice.

"Why don't you just put one of everything you have in a size two into a dressing room so she can try them on," Kal instructed.

"Very good, sir. I'll just be a few moments." The sales lady answered before moving away hastily, pulling items off the racks and muttering under her breath something about rich assholes. Kal just chuckled, loving the fact that she was so irritated.

"So uh... not that I don't love this whole _Pretty Woman_ flash back, but I really don't need one of everything in this store." Liz whispered to him as she watched the woman take even more clothes into one of the dressing rooms.

"Yeah I know, but it's fun to make that old bag do some work. And if you do want one of everything form this store you can have it, ya know." And he held up a mini skirt to Liz's waist. Whistling low, he added, "You might need this in one of every color."

"I'm serious, Kal. This isn't necessary."

"Tell me something. Besides what you have on what other clothes do you own?" He browsed through more skirts, but he was listening intently. Liz didn't answer; she didn't need to. He already knew.

"That's what I thought. So just let me do this for you. Okay?"

"Fine." Liz said in small voice.

"Alrighty dear, the dressing room is ready for you. If you need any help or a different size just let me know."

"Thank you." Liz answered as she slipped into the dressing room and began trying things on.

At least twenty minutes had passed and Liz still hadn't come out. Kal x-rayed the wall every so often as he roamed through the store to see what she was trying on. She had finally gotten to that mini skirt he liked. It was black stretchy material that hugged her curves in all the right ways. She had matched it up with a black and white sheer layered top that had a V-neck and one of those built-in bra things that made her already gorgeous chest look amazing. He looked at it just once and had to slam his eyes shut before he lost control of his heat vision and burned down the building. But closing the heat off one way only made it build, and suddenly it scorched its way through his veins, causing him to break a sweat.

He needed relief, and he needed it now.

The saleswoman was distracted by another customer that had just walked into the store, so in a flash he was behind the heavy curtain that draped to the floor of Liz's dressing room, and was standing behind her. He clamped his hand over her mouth just as she was about to scream in surprise. "Shhhh," he breathed as he used his other hand to pull her hips backward to grind his erection into her ass.

"Kal, wha..."

"Don't talk," he whispered in her ear, and his hot breath sent shivers through her body. "I need you now. It's been too many hours."

His hot hands slid down her outer thighs then back up and around, dragging up the soft skin of her inner thighs, pushing the skirt up around her waist as his fingers found her center. He rubbed her clit in slow, gentle circles, watching her face go slack and her mouth part on a gasp of lust and pleasure, and he felt the flimsy piece of silk covering her grow slick. He rubbed harder, bunching the wet fabric against her to give her more friction, harder and harder until she had to bite her fist to keep from moaning out loud. And then with a quick tug of his finger her thong was now a useless piece of scrap silk floating to the floor.

He spun her around and their lips crashed together, his tongue plunging into her mouth in a blatant sexual rhythm. Liz's fingers worked frantically to undo his belt and peel his button fly apart, and she shoved his pants and boxers out of the way as Kal backed her up against the mirror. Hooking his hands on the backs of her thighs he effortlessly lifted her off the floor. Her legs wrapped around his waist as he pinned her body to the glass, his cock was pulsing and leaking already as it strained towards her dripping wet pussy.

He ground into her in one swift movement, catching her gasp in the back of his throat as she stretched to fit his massive size. But he couldn't wait for her to adjust; the tight friction felt too damn good, and he kept pushing forward, thrusting his tongue deep into her mouth. He pulled his hips back and drove into her, harder and deeper each time, swiveling his hips in and out, working her open. Her hands slid up from his shoulders to tangle in his dark hair, grabbing handfuls and fisting while his fingers dug into her ass cheeks so he could pull her body back and forth to meet his strokes. They were both fighting to stay quiet but little grunts and groans still filled the enclosed space of the dressing room, and neither one of them cared.

Suddenly a voice shattered everything, "Is everything ok in there, miss?" the sales clerk asked through the curtain. "Anything working for you?"

Liz tore her mouth away from Kal's and quickly dragged in much needed air before she spoke. He buried his face in her throat, kissing and sucking on the sensitive skin and making it hard for her to focus. "Yeah... I'm fine," Liz squeaked out. "Everything fits perfectly, so… _so_ good…_God!_" she gasped loudly when Kal bit down on her neck, his teeth sinking in with a slow, delicious tingle as blood rushed to the surface of her skin. He could _taste_ it on his tongue and he licked the bruise hard, over and over again, trying not to laugh out loud at what Liz had said.

"You're sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, just caught my skin in the zipper," Liz choked out. Grabbing a handful of outfits hanging on a hook near her head, she tapped on Kal's shoulder and pointed toward the curtain when he made eye contact with her. "I'm gonna pass you some things that I didn't like so you can start putting them away," she called out, trying to keep her voice as even as possible. Kal turned them toward the curtain, never breaking rhythm as Liz hastily shoved the clothes through the curtain.

"Alright, I'll put these away. Just let me know if you need any more help."

"Thanks." Liz panted out.

Kal chuckled low against her neck as he turned them back to the mirror, licking away the blood that had begun to seep from her skin where he'd bitten her. The wound was already healing, he noticed, and knowing what his own body was doing to her made his cock swell as he watched it happen and felt her blood pump hot and fast around him, pounding along every inch of his cock. His thrusts became almost violent, faster and harder, so deep that she couldn't even thrust back anymore; all she could do was hang there in his grip, pinned to the mirror while he fucked her until her eyes rolled back.

He pulled her as close to him as he possibly could and growled almost silently, "I want a _tight_ fuck…" slamming his pelvis up hard against hers, no sound except the slap of skin on skin and the wet grinding of his cock as he pulled back the tiniest bit and drove into her almost brutally hard. "Yesss," he hissed, "Tight, just like this," watching her face and feeling her go completely still while he took whatever he wanted. His climax came boiling down through his veins within seconds, and Liz's body started to quake from the inside out, with her own orgasm, her body gripped his as the ecstasy began to burn its way through her. Her fingers twisted in his hair again as she opened her mouth and kissed him, struggled to taste all that she could of him and loving the way he kissed her with the same forceful rhythm he fucked her with. Both were still trying to keep quiet but everything was suddenly lost as she felt him change his angle, dragging his cock hard against her clit every time he drove himself up inside her, and she was whimpering into his mouth, "God Kal..." breathless and still unable to move because he was fucking in _so far_. "I'm…"

"Shhhh..." he panted against her mouth. "Me too..."

His voice choked off and they both came silently, eyes locked and willing each other to stay quiet. Kal sank down to the floor on his knees, taking her with him, holding her limp body against him with his massive arms wrapped around her. He inhaled her scent, and felt her pounding heart start to slow down.

After a few long moments Liz finally raised her head up off his chest, looking up at him with a sleepy smile and dazed eyes as she asked him in a hushed voice. "So… I take it you like the skirt even more on?"

"Definitely," Kal replied with a wolfish smile on his face.

They finally got up off the floor, and Liz went back to trying on clothes after Kal slipped back onto the sales floor while the sales lady was distracted again by another customer.

A few minutes later Liz emerged from the dressing room with a pile of clothes in her arms. It seemed like a lot to her but it was less then half of what she had tried on.

"Finally. I thought you feel asleep in there," Kal said with a wink, taking the clothes out of her arms and carrying them to the counter.

"Sorry... I didn't realize how long I was in there. I must have gotten distracted." Liz replied, her legs still aching and trembling and she tried her best not to giggle while she followed him to the counter. The look of shock on the sales women face was priceless, when she saw Kal pull out a huge wade of cash instead of a credit card to pay with. She silently bagged everything and, a few minutes later they were heading back to the apartment loaded down with bags.

"Thank you so much for doing this, Kal," Liz whispered to him as the elevator doors slid shut. "It really means a lot to me." Rising up on her tip toes, she kissed his cheek.

"I'll always take care of you, but really it's not that big a deal. It's just money; I can always get more."

Her brow furrowed and she looked down at his chest, afraid to ask and yet feeling too uneasy not to. "You can tell me if this is none of my business, but I was wondering where you got all this money from?" And she couldn't stop herself from searching his eyes for an answer.

"You're right. It's none of your business," he answered coldly. And then, a little more gently, "The less you know about it, the better."

"Please just tell me it's not drugs," she almost wailed. "My brother got pulled into dealing for Morgan Edge. He told him it was easy money, and it was for awhile, until he got caught. Now he's rotting in a jail cell. Please, Kal. I just don't want the same thing to happen to you." Her eyes welled at the memory of her brother being taken away in handcuffs, and she couldn't quite banish the picture from her mind of Kal in handcuffs too, of someone taking him away from her.

"Hey, take it easy. I'm not a drug dealer, I swear." He dropped the bags onto the floor and brought a big hand up to her cheek, wiping a stray tear away with the pad of his thumb. "I don't work for anybody, but it's still not safe for you to know the details. So just drop it, okay?"

Liz nodded her head as he pulled her into a hug, resting his chin on top of her head until the elevator doors opened. Once inside the apartment, he made space for her in his closet and emptied a few drawers for her as well, all in a tense silence while Liz stood watching him and feeling lost in a sea of worry she couldn't understand.

He turned to her when he was done. "Why don't you put your things away. I'll be back in a while we can go someplace nice for dinner." And as if he would never consider that she'd question his command, he headed for the door.

"Okay." Liz tried for a happy smile, but her worry showed.

Kal ignored it; she actually watched him do it, shutting it completely out as he left without looking back.

He knew from her tone she was still upset, but he was his own man, _dammit._ He answered to no one, not even her.

Hours had past since Kal had left. Liz tried to keep herself occupied by cleaning the apartment; she even did his laundry. Once that was done, she still needed something to occupy her mind, so she flipped through the TV channels but nothing caught her interest, so she headed out onto the balcony and up the spiral staircase to the roof.

Sitting on the top step, she watched the sun begin to set behind the buildings to the west and lights start to flicker on in the surrounding buildings. It was a peaceful sight to see from up here, and she sat still, tried to let the quiet clear her head. But it just wasn't working. With each passing minute she was getting more and more worried about Kal. _I hope he's not mad at me. I should have kept my damn mouth shut. Stupid mouth, always causing trouble. God, I hope he's okay. I love him so much already. Not that I can tell him. It's far too soon for that. He'd either laugh or get scared shitless. I can't handle either one of those reactions right now. And what in the hell did he do to make my bruises heal? I know I said it didn't matter... It's a freaking miracle, really and I should leave it at that, but still..._

"Liz!?"Kal burst through the door, shattering the dead bolt in the process. He had x-rayed the apartment before he entered, as usual, never wanting to be surprised by what he might find on the other side. And when he didn't immediately see Liz he panicked and his strength got the best of him.

"Up here!" she shouted from the roof.

"Jesus Christ, Liz." _You scared the shit out of me. I thought you were gone again._ He stepped out on to the patio to look up at her sitting on the top step.

"What?" she breathed, taken aback by his obvious fear. "I've been here all night. You're the one who left, remember?"

"You're right, I know. I just… I didn't see you before I came in and I thought you'd left again or something..." he grumbled as he leaned back on the banister. He was feeling needy and he hated it.

"Well, that could be the problem. You generally need to open the door first to see who's on the other side," Liz teased as she descended the steps towards him.

Kal didn't answer. He just stared at her bare legs as she got closer to him. He leaned forward, placing his hands on the railings of the steps, effectively trapping her there.

"A closet full of new clothes and you're still wearing my tee shirts?" he purred, a sexy half smile curving his lips as one of his hands left the railing to slide up her thigh. When he found nothing but silky skin beneath his touch, he gripped her ass in both hands and pulled her toward him.

"I know, but I still really like your shirts. I promise to wear my own clothes when I go out." Liz replied with a smile, looking down to watch his hand disappear under the fabric, shivering when a low growl escaped his throat.

"But… I think it's a little late to go out to a nice restaurant for dinner. Don't you?" she whispered, looking up at his face, watching his tanned skin flush with arousal as he took a deep, hungry breath. They where almost at the same eye level now, with her on the steps and him crowding in close.

"Yeah." He mouthed the word into the soft skin of her cheek, near the edge of her ear. "Maybe we should stay in and… eat." His lips lifted in a wolfish smile and his gaze flashed red as he licked her mouth, his eyes on hers while he used his torso to push her back to sit on the edge of one of the steps. He dropped to his knees in front of her, dragging his lips down, over her neck and to her breasts, giving a soft grunt when he realized they were only covered by a thin layer of cotton. He opened his mouth and sucked until her nipple was soaked in wet warmth through the fabric, and then he moved further down over her slim stomach, his breath hot on her skin even through the barrier. She wanted to open her legs but didn't, because she could feel his stubbled jaw scrape against her inner thighs as he moved lower, as he began kissing and sucking, biting and licking his way toward her center.

"Listen Kal, about earlier..." Liz panted out, her breath becoming more uneven with every touch of his lips. "I… I'm really sorry if I overstepped my bounds," she managed to get out before the sensations coursing through her body completely took her over.

He whispered, "Forget it. I have." Breathing damp against her inner thigh, his breath scorching her sensitive skin.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

Thanks to everyone that's reviewed, and Happy B-Day Tom!

Chapter 9

She whimpered at the jolt it gave her, feeling herself become instantly wet… God, dripping; the moisture sliding out of her to slick the lips of her pussy and her inner thighs, slipping down into the cleft of her ass now because she wasn't wearing panties.

And he knew it; he could smell how hot she was and he breathed, "Fuck, yeah," pushed up the bottom of her tee shirt to expose her neatly trimmed pussy to him. He spread her thighs high and wide apart, watching her open completely up, and then he pulled until her bare feet rested on his shoulders and he settled in between her legs. His eyes were literally hot as he looked up at her, taunting her with his fast, uneven breaths, holding her still and moving his head in closer to her pussy, his body pulsing forward and back in a slow, barely discernable thrusting motion between her thighs.

Liz watched him move and couldn't take her eyes away from his, the intense heat of him so close and yet still too far away because she wanted to _feel_ him… and suddenly she couldn't stand it anymore. "God!" she gasped, humping up toward him. "Lick me…" her voice rose in long, whining cry and she whimpered the words again, "Lick me, _please_, Kal…"

He started at the bottom of her slit, his mouth soft and wet as he licked a long, hot stripe upward to her clit and back down again, dragging his tongue through her juices. He didn't push inside yet, just slowly stroked between her folds, sucking with hot, gentle pressure.

"God, you taste good," he groaned out as his lips finally captured her clit, tugging it between his teeth and biting down lightly.

Liz gripped the bars of the railing high on either side of her head, moaning low in her throat, her eyes falling closed and her head dropping back against a step as heat started to spread from her womb outward. And when she heard him whisper against her, "Fuck my mouth," she lifted her hips in a desperate thrust and his tongue plunged deeply into her wet pussy over and over with hot, laving licks that made her clench helplessly around the pressure. And God, the _sound _of him, the messy wet slurps of his mouth and the rumbling moan of his voice as she thrust her hips up off the steps and hung there, tight against his mouth, made her begin to shake and gasp for precious air. He pulled back slightly when he felt her fuck up, and slid his index and middle fingers inside to join his tongue while his other two fingers stroked down between her ass cheeks, causing bolts of electricity to wind through her with that touch.

"Always so fucking wet for me. Aren't you," he said, and he stated it as a fact, not a question while he licked her juices from his lips.

"God, yes! Don't stop. Please!" Liz gasped out, loud enough that if anyone else in their building was out on their balcony they definitely would have heard her. She kept humping up toward his mouth, but still hungry for the touch of his thick fingers in her cleft, and her body ground mindlessly down and back into his hand, needing his touch like she needed air.

Kal's voice growled out as his fingertips teased her wet hole, "There's my bad little girl. You like that, don't you?" And he pressed softly, wrenching a screaming gasp of pure pleasure from her as the tip of his finger sank just inside and he thrust it in and out shallowly, gently. Her legs fell open even further and she looked down at his hand, whimpering, "I want to see… let me see," whining and gasping as he kept pushing with his fingertip, panting as he felt her opening the slightest bit. "So good," she whimpered, and she brought her heels up to hook on the step at her sides, her legs splayed even wider for him.

Kal growled at what a lustful, dirty sight she made in that position, loved how open and wet her pussy was, and he carefully swirled his finger in her hole, stretching softly so he could go a little deeper in. Liz lifted her hips for him, trying to force him deeper while he opened his mouth on her clit again, teased it with his tongue before he laid his thumb against it and worked her sensitive flesh in tight, fast circles. His fingers slid hard into her body, twisting and curling toward her G spot with each pull, and she was drowning in too much sensation at once; his thumb on her clit, his fingertip in her hole, and his two fingers sliding in and out of her pussy. She clenched around him and bore down onto the pressure of his fingers, forward and down, forward and down, and her voice rose in moaning cries with every thrust.

"One day, baby… one day I'll fuck you there. One day you'll beg me to." His voice was raspy and rough against her clit as he drove his tongue in and out of her pussy along with his fingers, his lips hungrily sucking flesh and juices into his mouth.

At his words her body convulsed around him and she let out a loud cry of ecstasy, her back arching as far off the step as possible, jolts of electricity shooting through her. Her legs trembled so hard her feet slipped off the step. Shuddering and shaking as she came harder than she ever had before. His mouth and fingers still worked her convulsing pussy as he greedily licked her, and every time she thought the last wave had passed, his thumb would flick across her clit again and send another round of blinding white heat through her entire body. One of her hands slid free of the railing to rest on his head, her fingers twisted through his dark hair and she yanked and pulled with each spasming jolt of her body, until finally the shaking subsided to slow, throbbing pulses.

"Mmm... oh my God… Kal…" Her voice trailed off and she lay gasping, unable to complete a full sentence; her legs finally coming to rest with the backs of her knees on his shoulders. He looked up at her through those impossibly thick, dark eyelashes, and his eyes glittering red with his need for her. He pushed up her tee shirt until her breasts spilled free, nipples red and tight, and his chin stubble tickled across her stomach as he kissed his way back up to suck her.

"Need you... God... I need you now." he was panting, begging against her chest as he moved form one nipple to the other.

"Uh-uh, not yet," Liz panted, her other hand coming to rest on his head as well.

Kal pulled back, keeping her in his mouth while he looked up at her with a cocked eyebrow, and she tugged him up by his hair until he released her breast with a soft sucking sound.

"I'm still hungry," she said in a low, seductive voice, pulling his lips to hers. She took her time, licking his mouth slowly, searching for the taste of herself on him as her tongue lapped at his lips. He groaned and his cock swelled when he realized what she was after, and he opened up for her, let her draw his tongue into her mouth. "Mmm, yeah. Give me all of it," she whispered, greedily sucking, licking all she could find.

Kal pulled her legs back down to his waist and switched their positions without breaking the kiss, so Liz was now on top and he was laid back on the steps. She straddled him and pressed down, her wet, naked pussy rubbing eagerly against the bulge in his pants. Sitting up slowly, she broke the kiss and her hands moved from his hair to his chest to balance herself. She tugged his shirt off, then drug her hands down to slid slowly over his groin, where she began to unbuckle his belt. "I want to taste you, too," she whispered, her nails lightly scratching through the dark trail of hair leading down to what she wanted. "Is that okay? Can I suck your cock?" she asked softly, batting her eyelashes coyly at him and bringing her index finger to her mouth to bite down lightly on it.

With a hissed in breath, his eyes honed in on her mouth and he said, "For the record, you never _ever _have to ask me that again. Anytime, anywhere." And he was serious as a heart attack.

A fiery flash of red went through his eyes before he could shut them at the thought of her lips around his cock. She'd never done that for him before. His pulse quickened and beads of sweat broke out on his forehead as he fought to control his heat vision. One of his hands reached for the base of his cock between their bodies and he had to press down hard to stave off his orgasm.

Liz scooted down his legs to sit straddling the tops of his thighs. She finished unfastening his belt and peeled open his button fly in slow motion, a stark contrast to earlier that day when she had ripped them open. She watched him close his eyes even tighter and breathe in deeply through flared nostrils as she ran her fingertips down the length of his cock through his silk boxers. Hooking her fingers around the waist band of his boxers and jeans at the same time, she pulled them down far enough for her to have easy access. His massive erection flushed dark red and throbbed as it sprang free from the constraints of his clothes, leaving a warm thread of pre-come linking his body to the tip of his cock where it touched his abs.

_Holy fuck, Kent , don't freak out. Breathe; relax and just breathe, _Kal thought. He could feel Clark's anxiousness building in the back of his mind. This was new for them and Clark was almost as afraid as he was excited.

_Don't open your eyes, _Clark begged him over and over.

Liz didn't seem to notice his inner struggle as her eyes fixated on the vein protruding at the underside of his cock. She lowered her lips to him and opened her mouth, not taking him in but sucking softly down the side, letting her tongue trail down his length as she moved. She licked around the base, getting him wet before she came back up to the tip, pulled her mouth away to watch slow, creamy drops of pre-come gather and drip from his slit, and she swiped her tongue through it before blowing softly, warmly over the head of his cock. She felt the sensation shudder through him and looked up his body, watched him throw his head back and arch his spine off the steps.

Shifting her weight, she repositioned herself on her knees between his legs, grasping his cock in one hand. Kal was _writhing_ on the stairs, his head tossing and his legs spread wide open as he pushed up with his feet, choking out whimpering, growling sounds of need. Liz parted her lips and let the velvety head of his cock slip into her mouth, feeling the hot weight of him on her tongue, the musky heat of him a taste all its own; wild and dangerously _male_, and so good that she felt tears burning in her eyes.

Her hand was still wrapped around the base, and she began to pump him, let her tongue slide and curl around him as she took him in as deeply as she could. She opened her mouth as widely as possible, absolutely loving the width of him because he was almost too big, she almost had to struggle to suck, but when the broad, wet head of his cock touched the back of her throat, when her own lips kissed her hand where she held him by the base, she took in a deep breath and let her throat drop open, swallowed in one convulsive shudder as he slipped all the way into the heat.

It made him scream. And suddenly his hands flew to his sides, fingertips sinking into the metal at his hips as he roared in pleasure and held his own body down, desperate to fuck himself into the tight, clinging heat of her throat.

Liz kept sucking and swallowing, moaning hungrily.

"Wait... God... Please... Gonna..." Kal was whispering so low Liz could barely hear him. He was fighting himself, fighting _Clark_ even, desperate to thrust up as hard as he could. The fact that his eyes were clenched so tightly closed meant that he could feel it all more sharply, every sensation hotter and more intense than if he could _see_ it happening. And Clark – his shaking, innocent voice of reason was the only thing that kept Kal's restraint in one piece.

But when he felt her swallow again and even more of his hot length sank into her, when he felt her throat contract around his girth in greedy spasms, he lost the ability not to fuck. With his hands holding the sides of her head he pulled back then pushed forward ever so gently at first, not wanting hurt her but still desperately needing the friction. But then her voice raked along his engorged flesh in a soft, vibrating hum, she began sucking and slurping, moaning as she felt him slamming a little harder into the back of her throat, and he just broke apart. The building could burn to the ground around them, but he just _had_ to watch her. And so he dragged his eyes open, drank in the sight of her dark hair fisted in his hands, her head moving up and down faster and faster, and that was all it took. "_Yes!_" He hissed as he threw his head back again, so hard he cracked the step behind him, and fire shot from his eyes in a long, burning stream, straight up into the night sky.

He was screaming, "Shit! Oh Fuck... Liz I'm coming!!..." And when it hit he gasped and let himself go, exploding inside her mouth.

When his hot come shot into the back of her throat Liz eagerly swallowed it down, pulse after scalding pulse. Her fingernails dug into his hips where her hands clung to him, and blood started to seep out beneath her nails. In that very second, she felt strength and power surging through her; a hot, seductive flow of energy like the sun pouring its power into her blood. The more she swallowed, the more she wanted, it felt so incredibly good.

After what seemed like forever, Kal's cock finally stopped pulsing and softened in her mouth. She let him go slowly with a low, sensual moan, gasping for air as she licked down to his sac, searching for any drop she might have missed.

Kal's hands fell to his sides, his huge body gone limp from pleasure, and he was about to drift into peaceful afterglow when he felt her licking and sucking on his hip bone. He sluggishly lifted his head up and looked at her, realizing that she had seen the blood there and was instantly drawn to it, licking it away only to find the wound beneath had already healed and wasn't there anymore. So she sucked harder, causing his blood to rush to the surface just beneath his skin, before once more disappearing before her eyes.

Sitting up a little, she saw Kal watching her through sleepy, heavy-lidded eyes, curious and heated, letting her indulge her need to keep sucking at his skin. Her eyes caught sight of the blood on his other hip, and she dipped her head down to lick it clean as well, making him groan almost helplessly.

"Kal?" she asked in a whisper as she sat back up.

"Mmm." Was the only response he could muster.

"What's this feeling?... Is this how the ring makes you feel too?" Her voice was shaky, breathy with lust as she unconsciously brought her fingers to her mouth to suck his blood from the tips, her eyelids falling shut.

His eyes opened wide and he propped himself up on his elbows. "How do you feel?"

"Mmmm, I feel… God, I feel _good, _and strong… like nothing can hurt me," she whispered in between licks. He could hear her heartbeat steadily increasing, could feel her blood beginning to race harder while she tried to sort through everything that was swirling around in her head.

"But a little edgy... and… angry at the same time." Her eyes came to his, her dark brown eyes fully dilated, and intense, glittering with something that made him hard in a split instant. "And I feel... hot...really hot, like I might explode if you don't fuck me _right now_." Her breaths where coming in short, sharp gasps at the realization of how much she needed him.

She ran her wet fingertips over his balls, softly slipped them up the length of his cock. "God... do you feel this? Is this how you feel all the time?" Her voice was practically a purr, panting breathlessly as she crawled up his lap to sit on his erection. She reached between her legs and used her fingers to spread her pussy open, hungry to feel his engorged length pressed tight against her folds.

"_Yes_..." he hissed. "That's why I have such a hard time keeping my hands off you," he rasped out, bringing his hands to her hips to slide her back and forth over the length of his cock. He wasn't inside her yet but friction felt impossibly good as her juices coated his cock.

"Kal, please. I need you inside me… right – _fuck, oh God_ – right now," she begged him, her heartbeat racing, her breaths coming in deep, moaning gasps. She grabbed at his biceps, pulling him up off the steps into a sitting position.

He growled in the back of his throat, his lip curling and his nostrils flaring as he breathed in her arousal. He could tell by the way she yanked him around both earlier today and right now that she was stronger than normal; strong enough to handle him so he could fuck her the way she was begging to be fucked.

The way he needed to fuck her.

"Please, Kal hurry... I can't...I can't... catch... my breath!" Liz panted frantically against his mouth, grabbing at his jeans and boxers and scrabbling to get them down his thighs. "Oh, God _yesss,"_ she hissed, pushing against his pelvis when he lifted his hips to help her get his pants down. "Off, off… get it off." She dragged his hands to her shirt, desperate to feel all of him, hot against her fevered skin. He tore the fabric away with a groan, hauling her hard against his chest.

His lips crashed into hers and his tongue plunged inside over and over, thrusting, like _fucking_, and his big thick fingers tangled in her hair. Yanking her head back roughly, he exposed her neck to his sharp teeth, tearing away from her mouth to suck soft bites over her cheek to her ear. Then he moved lower, down to the soft patch of skin just below her earlobe, and he sucked hard, bit through her skin and felt her blood coating his tongue as he swiped it over the marks.

And when he pulled away, he watched in amazement again as the wound closed right before his eyes, her beautiful skin mending itself again to supple perfection.

"God you always taste so good." And she did. He couldn't believe how much he loved the taste of her, the silken texture that melted warm on his tongue everywhere he licked, every place he could open his mouth and _feel _her. He couldn't seem to get enough of her in his mouth, he couldn't stop biting and sucking and he moved further down her neck and over her collar bone. He pulled her back even further and cradled her neck and back in his hands like a child as he leaned over her to suck her nipple once again.

And she was pleading with him, "Kal, Kal, please..." Her nails scratching up his shoulders to his hair, where she began clenching and pulling.

In the blink of an eye Liz was slammed onto her back with enough force that it would have broken anyone else's bones, and she screamed as he drove his cock down into her aching pussy in one deep, powerful thrust.

"Is that what you need, baby?" Kal hissed out between clenched teeth. Her body was so incredibly hot, even to him, that it took his breath away.

"Nnnnngh..." she was beyond being able to form words. This high was so much more intense then anything she had ever experienced and she was suddenly fighting just to stay conscious. Everywhere he touched her, her nerve endings electrified and sent hot flashes pulsing through her. Dragging her eyes open, she watched him through a haze of red, until they started to burn and itch so intensely that she had to clamp them shut as the delicious heat of him flowed through her. Kal's body moved violently above hers, pumping into her with deep grinding strokes, pushing her back against the rough concrete with every thrust until they wound up in the doorway to the apartment. Her hands rose above her head and she grasped the door frame with both hands to keep her head from ramming into it. Kal's hot breath scalded down her neck, his fingers dug into her hips where he held her firmly to the floor, and his muscles drew tighter and tighter as he fought off his orgasm.

"More..." He growled out as his lips latched on to a nipple and his hands slid around to her ass, _pulling_ her hips up off the floor so he could drive even deeper inside. The change in the angle caused Liz to cry out and pull hard on the door frame, ripping the lower part of it right off the wall, bending the metal in her hands. And Kal never let up; he just kept slamming into her over and over.

"Look at me," he demanded after he released her nipple. He'd seen that familiar red in her eyes and wanted to see it again. Liz opened her eyes, trying to focus on his voice, and red flared across her vision again when his thumb brushed over her swollen clit.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" he grunted between clenched teeth, his lips lifting into something between a smirk and a snarl.

"Yesss..., " she panted, desperately trying to keep her eyes open. "Don't stop fucking me. God, don't ever stop."

"Mmmm." He grunted out. "I'm not sure that's one of my abilities, but I'll do my best." Even as he said the words he could feel his climax gathering. The heat her body was putting off was overwhelming, and her muscles gripped him tighter then ever before. His fingers went into super speed on her clit and his thrusts nearly split her in two, sending her completely over the edge, and he hungrily followed her into it, no longer able to keep his orgasm at bay. With a loud cry of ecstasy, he came deep inside her as her body quaked and shuttered around his, gripping him so tightly on the inside that he literally stopped breathing.

After a few long moments their bodies began to still, while their breathing and heart rates dropped to more normal levels, and Kal felt exhaustion like he'd never known begin to swallow him up.

"Kal, baby. You're crushing me," she whimpered. He lay sprawled heavily on top of her, his weight felt suddenly doubled, and it was too much for her to bear full force.

"Humph... sorry," he blearily replied as he rolled off her and promptly fell back asleep. Liz curled toward him, breathing him in, feeling one last shivering pulse of that awesome red heat go through her as she followed him into darkness.

Sometime in the middle of the night Kal awoke with a piece of the broken doorframe lodged under his back. It didn't hurt him but it wasn't comfortable, either.

They were still on the hard floor, half inside the apartment half on the balcony. His body was spooned around Liz, one of his arms draped across her chest, with his boxers and jeans bunched at his feet around his boots. Sitting up, he toed off his boots and slid his clothes off completely. And then he looked down at her.

She was breathtakingly beautiful lying there, completely asleep and curled up with a hand tucked beneath her neck. He traced the outline of her scar, let his fingers softly caress her skin as he simply watched her breathe for as long as he could hold his eyes open. He wondered how she could look so comfortable asleep on the hard floor, naked with no blanket or pillow. And then it dawned on him that she was probably used to not always having a bed to sleep in. The thought struck him like nothing else ever had before, it saddened and angered him that she had ever been in that kind of need. Shoving it aside was hard, but he did it, and scooped her into his arms and headed for the bed.

She awoke before he made it there, her eyes shimmering in the moonlit room as she looked up at him. "I wanna take a bubble bath," she mumbled sleepily.

He whispered a soft chuckle. "You're dreaming, go back to sleep."

"No I _was_ dreaming about a bubble bath. You woke me in the middle of it and now I want one." She reached out a hand for the scar on his chest, her bottom lip sticking out. "Please?" she pouted. And Kal didn't think he'd ever seen anything so adorably sexy in his life.

"Christ, you're lucky I love you," he muttered as he turned and carried her to the bathroom.

The words had just fallen out of his mouth before he could stop them. Maybe she hadn't heard him, he thought, feeling a wild panic start somewhere in his chest. Maybe she'd already fallen back to sleep.

Nope, he _knew _she hadn't; her heartbeat was suddenly racing against his chest, and all he could think to do was just keep walking, not daring to look down at her to see her reaction.

Liz was frozen in his arms and her breath was stuck in the back of her throat. Her heart was practically pounding out of her chest. _He said it! He actually said it. I don't think he meant to say it out loud though, but what if he did? _Her mind wouldn't stop circling that possibility. _Should I say it back? Oh my God what should I do?_

Kal didn't turn the lights on when he entered the bathroom. The moonlight streaming in from the window above the shower was all the light he needed. He turned the water on with one hand while still easily holding Liz cradled in his other arm, and he leaned back against the wall to wait for the tub to fill. He tucked her head under his chin and breathed her in, pushed a soft strand of hair behind her ear.

And then he heard her quietly whisper, "Say it again. It's okay if you don't mean it, but please... just say it again." Her voice shook, barely discernable above the rush of the running water, but he felt her lips quivering against his throat. And he had heard her.

"Mmm. Say what?" he couldn't help but tease as his arms tightened around her.

"Please," she mouthed again.

He pulled her back, searched for her eyes in the dark until she looked up at him. And he spoke in a low, hushed voice. "I love you, and of course I meant it." His eyes sparkled in the silvery light as his lips lifted into a sexy grin.

She was transfixed. Her brain threatened to close down as she heard his words reverberate in her mind. Finally, after a few long, silent moments, she told him, "I love you too." A soft, feminine smile lifted her lips as she leaned in to gently kiss the mouth that had just uttered the most wonderful words she had ever heard. _Twice. _She had never said that to a guy before, and her mind was still reeling. But her tentative shy kiss quickly turned hot and demanding.

Kal finally had to break the kiss to check the tub. Seeing the level was just right he climbed in and sank down in the warm water. Liz's mouth had moved down to kiss and suck his neck, and when the warm water rose high enough to surround her aching muscles she let out a long sigh against his skin.

"Mmm, this feels good," she breathed out as she snuggled down against his chest. "But where are the bubbles?" she asked in a sleepy voice.

"Hello. I'm a guy. I don't own bubbles," Kal stated as he pushed the button to start the jets, and then he settled back against the side of the tub and closed his eyes.

"Humph," was her only reply.

Turning from her side to her back, she laid herself out on top of Kal with her back to his chest. Pulling one of his hands off her waist she brought it above the water and held her palm to his. The size difference was staggering, his more than doubled hers.

"Wow," she whispered. "God, I love your hands. They're so big and strong and _big,_" she said softly with a sleepy giggle as she brought his hand to her lips to kiss his palm, and then his fingertips. Turning his hand over, she kissed the back of it, mouthing softly over his knuckles. It was his right hand, the one with the ring on it. And for the first time she actually paid attention to the school name glinting off it in the moonlight.

"Smallville, huh? I lived there too, until I was about five," Liz said quietly, not sure if Kal was even still awake.

"Sorry to hear that." he replied, his big body shifting at the reminder of his past.

"Still a hick town I take it?"

"As much as ever. Did you come to Metropolis after Smallville?"

"No we moved to Grandville after the meteor shower damaged our house."

_Oh, God. _"You were in Smallville for the meteor shower?" he asked, trying to keep his voice even.

"Yeah. How about you?"

"Uh... I kinda arrived… during." He was desperately fighting the urge to just blurt out the whole truth to her. Even in his Red K induced state he knew that was something you just didn't go around telling people.

"That's probably my earliest memory," she said. "I was playing outside at the end of our driveway with my brother's toy truck when the sky started to rain fire. It was the most beautiful and scariest thing I've ever seen." The memory went through her, replaying itself in her mind's eye.

"You weren't hurt... Were you?" he asked her, his unease growing.

"No, Bobby and I were fine. And my mom was in Grandville working at the time, so she was fine too. The only damage was to the house. Did you survive it unscathed?"

"Yeah I did, but I don't really remember what happened that day. It's all pretty hazy."

And then she spoke softly, her voice trembling on the words, and she wasn't sure why she was even continuing. "I saw something that day; something amazing."

"What'd you see?" Kal closed his eyes, praying and knowing it was doing him no good.

"Forget it, you'll just think I'm crazy."

"I swear I won't," he said, his voice hushed. "Just tell me. "

"If you laugh at me I swear I'll... withhold sex for like a whole day." Liz threatened.

"I won't, and you wouldn't be able to anyway," he retorted.

"Okay...fine. In a field down the road from where I lived, I saw something crash..."

"What was it?" Kal asked, but God help him, already knew her answer.

"It was a... spaceship." she choked out. She hadn't spoken those words out loud since the day it happened when she told her brother what she saw. She remembered that he'd yelled down at her to never repeat it, or men in white suits would lock her up forever, because they would think she was crazy.

Kal was frozen behind her. A huge part of him just wanted to tell her everything. But this other part of him – Clark – was terrified.

"Kal?" she whispered. "Silence is just as bad as laughing," she muttered, growing more upset by the second, regretting that she had told him.

Just when she thought he was either asleep or he was just refusing to say anything, she heard him whisper, "I believe you." And then, "Did you see anything else?"

"Yeah. A little boy with dark hair climbed out of the ship, and a man and woman got out of a wrecked truck. They picked him up and took him away. I dreamed about that little boy for years. I used to make up stories in my head, about how he would rescue me from my horrible life and take me away to his home where we would live happily ever after. I've always… loved him. That's so strange, isn't it? But I have. And I've wondered so many times what happened to him." She fell quiet again, turning her head to rub her cheek against his chest. "But now I have you. So I guess I don't need those stories anymore. Unless I've just convinced you that I'm a total nut job, that is." Her voice floated out softly into the dark; she was unsure of what he was thinking, but it felt good to have finally shared that with someone else after so many years.

Kal closed his eyes and laid his head back on the edge of the tub. It all made sense to him now; his instant attraction to her when he had so many girls to choose from, her attraction to him when she had no reason on the earth to trust him, the strange things about him that she had let go unexplained were because on some level she already knew and accepted him for what he really was. Some part of him had sensed that in her from the very beginning; that she'd been… _waiting _for him for years.

"Again, the deafening silence? Just as bad as laughing," Liz tried to joke in a trembling voice, her hand starting to shake in his. What she had just told him was a huge deal to her and if he didn't really believe her she wasn't sure what she would do.

"You found him." Kal said quietly, his eyes opening, searching for a patch of skin to nuzzle. His lips found that soft place behind her ear – his favorite – where he gently kissed her, meaning it with all of his heart.

TBC


End file.
